Research + Innovation
Zhi Li, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Engineering - Chemical and Materials Engineering Dept, University of Alberta

SERVICES + SUPPORT

Find services provided to support our researchers (faculty, postdoctoral fellows, students, research staff) and the research community.

Our Researchers

We are home to leading experts in both established and emerging fields including health, artificial intelligence, energy, food safety and security, nanotechnology, the environment and earth’s resources, our past, clean technology, climate change, smart technology and aerospace to name a few.

Improving health, fighting Islamophobia

Unique research model links academic findings with concrete change for Edmonton’s Muslim community.

Pandemic, stigma a double barrier

Translating evidence for harm reduction into practices in the health-care system.

Creating ‘smart’ bionic limbs

Researchers create prosthetics that learn to predict a person's motions to operate more naturally.

Commercialization + Entrepreneurship

Research creates the knowledge required to innovate and create new solutions and technologies. Transferring those innovations out of the university via commercialization is just one way our research is helping shape the future, improving quality of life, driving the economy and economic diversity and serving the public who help fund that research.

130+ active spinoffs

6 new spinoff companies created

36 license/options executed

83 reports of invention

(April 2020 - April 2021)

Innovation Services

Entrepreneurship Resources

Entrepreneurship @UAlberta provides the education, support and mentorship that helps our students become entrepreneurial thinkers.

Spinoffs + Startups

A university spinoff is a new company created to commercialize and develop an idea and/or innovation developed at the University of Alberta.

Technology Transfer Services

Transforms innovations and discoveries into reality — moving them out of the university to benefit society, the economy, the world.

Recent Highlights

The U of A has been advancing knowledge and shaping the future through research, teaching and innovation for more than 100 years. Read about the latest developments, discoveries, and partnerships.

More News + Stories

Advanced Facilities

We are home to some of Canada’s, and the world’s, best and most advanced research facilities, equipment and resources.

These, along with our strategic networks and partner hospitals, facilitate research across the entire spectrum; from discovery to innovation, to technology development and evidence-based policy recommendations.

Signature Areas Founded upon the broad array of disciplinary excellence at the University of Alberta, the development of five signature areas is aimed at promoting cross-faculty, interdisciplinary approaches to enhance the university’s already existing leadership and capacity to address complex global challenges.

ENERGY SYSTEMS

Energy is more than just fuel — it involves large and complex systems incorporating society and the environment. These systems must also meet our expectations of type, quality, quantity, reliability, and accessibility within diverse cultural frameworks.

INTERSECTIONS OF GENDER

Many of today's complex challenges―from health care in refugee camps to water security on Indigenous communities to automated transport ― require cross-disciplinary, cross-faculty, and intersectional gender expertise to develop effective solutions.

PRECISION HEALTH

Precision Health is an emerging health-care model that leverages data, new technologies, and factors such as genomics, metabolomics, nutrition and environment to better understand and address diseases and disabilities.

SITUATED KNOWLEDGES: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND PLACE

Situated Knowledges: Indigenous Peoples and Place (SKIPP) was created to highlight Indigenous scholarship, create a strong community of Indigenous scholars, and allow other scholars to come into that space to learn and connect.

AI4SOCIETY

AI4Society builds on more than four decades of expertise in AI and machine learning. Over the last 30 years, the University of Alberta has consistently been ranked as one of the top three institutions worldwide for AI research.

OTHER KEY STRENGTHS