The Wond'ry is Vanderbilt's Center for Innovation and Design. It provides tools and resources for students, faculty, staff, and community members to bring ideas to life through four practice areas.
For general questions about the Wond'ry, please email thewondry@vanderbilt.edu.
Entrepreneurship
From early-stage startups to fully-fledged technologies, the Entrepreneurship practice area at the Wond’ry offers resources for all faculty, students, staff, and alums from Nashville-area colleges and universities, who are interested in learning how to grow a venture from the ground up. Programs include the Sullivan Family Ideator, Builder, Founder, Innovation Open Mic, NSF I-Corps Mid-South Hub, etc.
Contact: Charleson Bell
Social Innovation
Social Innovation at the Wond’ry prepares leaders to co-create opportunities for social change in their communities using the tools of equity-centered design and systems thinking. The dynamic practice area encompasses a range of initiatives, including engaging competitions such as Map the System and Commodore Cup, along with transformative programs like Social Changemakers and the Climate Innovation Accelerator.
Contact: Jaclyn Mothupi
Innovation and Design Research
The Innovation and Design Research practice area offers the Wond’ry community members an opportunity to learn proven approaches to innovation challenges and teaches techniques for generating effective solutions to support positive change in teams, organizations, and society.
Contact: Mandy Lalrindiki
Making and Prototyping
The Wond’ry features Making and Design (MAD) spaces outfitted with state-of-art equipment to take your idea from concept to prototype. These MAD spaces are open to all of the Vanderbilt community and serve as a hub for collaborative design and interdisciplinary activity. MAD's mission is to provide students, faculty and staff with the tools, training, and resources to pursue their passions and actualize ideas.
Contact: Kevin Galloway
The CTTC's mission is to provide professional commercialization services to the Vanderbilt community, thus optimizing the flow of innovation to the marketplace and generating revenue that supports future research activities. The CTTC is for innovation involving Intellectual Property or Financial Interest.
For general questions about the CTTC, please email cttc@vanderbilt.edu.
Inventions & Patenting
Explore the option of either disclosing your invention or pursuing a patent for your innovative design, product, or concept.
Contact: Tom Trofino
Industry Partnerships
Engage in strategic collaborations with industry stakeholders to explore emerging challenges and deploy innovations where they can have a substantial impact.
Contact: Chris Rowe
Materials Transfer
Securely send materials to or from Vanderbilt and partners across the country and world.
Contact: Material Transfer Agreements
Licensing
License intellectual property to an external company to bring your innovations to the world
Contact: Chris Harris
New Ventures
Customized support to explore and launch a new venture with Vanderbilt intellectual property.
Contact: George Wilson
Innovation Ambassadors
Learn more about tech transfer and commercialization from a peer faculty member.
Contact: Innovation Ambassador Application