Uber Partners With Universities to Support R&D, Entrepreneurship

Over the last couple months, the San Francisco-based Uber, a mobile-app-based transportation network, announced partnerships with institutions of higher education in the Northeast. In February, Uber and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) launched a strategic partnership that includes the launch of the Uber Advanced Technologies Center, a Pittsburgh-based research laboratory to advance Uber’s mission of bringing safe, reliable transportation to everyone, everywhere. The center will focus on the areas of mapping and vehicle safety and autonomy technology. The agreement also will include funding from Uber for faculty chairs and graduate fellowships at CMU.

In March, Uber made an investment of $25,000 in the Startup Shell, a student-run coworking space and incubator at the University of Maryland.  Through this partnership, Uber will award investor grants to student-created startups over the next two years and will engage students through a variety of unique business competitions with a specific focus on developing next-generation transportation solutions.