August 14, 2026
INVO launches new website highlighting Northwestern discoveries and their impact beyond the lab
Northwestern research has a long history of making an impact far beyond the lab.
From new medicines and medical devices to advanced materials, energy technologies, diagnostics, and digital tools, discoveries made by Northwestern researchers have gone on to become products and solutions addressing real-world challenges.
A new website from Northwestern University Innovation + New Ventures (INVO) is bringing those stories together.
Northwestern Innovates showcases technologies developed by Northwestern researchers and traces their journeys from discovery toward real-world application: highlighting the people, research, and commercialization pathways behind each innovation.
Moving a university discovery into the world rarely happens in a single step. It can require years of research and development, collaboration with industry, startup formation, licensing, regulatory milestones, and continued technical advancement.
Northwestern Innovates provides a closer look at those journeys, exploring where a technology began, the Northwestern researchers who helped make it possible, and how the innovation progressed from an idea or scientific discovery toward practical application.
The technologies featured on the site span an extraordinary range of fields. They include the Gx Sweat Patch, which enables personalized hydration monitoring; Anne One, a platform for continuous, clinical-grade wearable monitoring; the DASH Platform, which brings laboratory-quality PCR testing to the point of care; and Mako SmartRobotics, which uses robotics to support precision, personalized surgery. Other innovations include Citrelock and Citrefix, next-generation devices for tissue fixation and anchoring; Addalloy 3T & 5T, high-performance aluminum alloys developed for metal additive manufacturing; Lilac IX Gen 5, a next-generation ion-exchange technology for lithium extraction; Onyx, a silicon anode material for high-energy lithium-ion batteries; OleoSorb, a regenerable, oil-selective material for marine and industrial spill response; LAKE Printer, a scalable, high-speed resin 3D printing technology; and GrapheneQ, a graphene nanocomposite technology for next-generation audio transducers. The stories also reach back to discoveries with lasting impact, including Pregabalin, a Northwestern discovery that modulates nerve signals for pain and seizure control.
Together, the stories demonstrate the many ways university research can create impact, from technologies that improve patient care to new approaches addressing challenges in manufacturing, sustainability, energy, computing, and beyond.
Explore Northwestern Innovates.