The University of Utah has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to host a community engagement office on its campus, expanding access to intellectual property education, resources, and expertise for students, entrepreneurs, and businesses across the Intermountain West.
The new office, located in Research Park in Salt Lake City, will serve as a hub for education and outreach under the Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022. The partnership enables the USPTO to begin delivering services immediately while strengthening connections with innovators across the region.
The initiative aims to increase awareness of intellectual property and provide guidance on patents, trademarks, branding, and related topics. Programming will include monthly public seminars, weekly office hours with USPTO employees, and additional educational events designed to support inventors and businesses. Many of the offerings will also be available virtually to reach participants across a broader geographic area.
The program is intended to serve a wide audience, including university students and staff, high school students and their families, law students, attorneys interested in intellectual property, individual inventors, small businesses, veterans, and rural residents. Organizers say the effort is designed to improve participation in the U.S. innovation ecosystem among communities that have historically been underrepresented.
The new office will support innovators across an eight-state region previously served by the USPTO’s Rocky Mountain Regional Outreach Office in Colorado. The region includes Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Nebraska.
The University of Utah was selected as a host location in part because of its strong research environment and track record of innovation. The university filed a record 542 patent disclosures last year and ranked 81st globally for U.S. utility patents granted in 2025, according to the National Academy of Inventors’ Top 100 Worldwide Universities ranking.
USPTO staff will initially include up to three full-time employees located at the Myriad Genetics building in Research Park for a one-year period with the possibility of extension. The office will work closely with university programs, including the S.J. Quinney College of Law and the Technology Licensing Office, to integrate intellectual property education into classroom learning and community outreach.
University officials say the partnership is designed to strengthen the region’s innovation ecosystem by connecting research, education, and commercialization resources while helping inventors move ideas from concept to market.
KEY QUOTES:
“This partnership reflects the University of Utah’s long-standing commitment to fostering a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. By hosting the USPTO on our campus, the U is helping ensure that inventors, students, startups and established businesses across Utah have greater access to the tools and knowledge they need to protect ideas and bring new technologies to market.”
Taylor Randall, President, University Of Utah
“A strong and robust innovation system depends on expansive eligibility, broad access and up-front engagement with the vibrant communities driving research and discovery. By partnering with the University of Utah, we are meeting innovators where their ideas happen—in the classrooms, laboratories and startups—and ensuring that America’s innovation agency is there at the very beginning of the innovation journey.”
John A. Squires, Undersecretary For Intellectual Property And Director, U.S. Patent And Trademark Office
“The community engagement offices allow us to be more agile. We can customize the resources and information we provide the public to meet the needs of the communities by focusing on the technologies and issues driving innovation in the region.”
Ken Takeda, Interim Acting Director, USPTO Mountain West Community Engagement Office
