Montana State University announced as site of new U.S. Patent and Trademark office

BOZEMAN - The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Monday that Montana State University will be home to a newly established Community Engagement Office for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The MSU-based office will join Dallas and San Francisco as the largest hubs west of the Mississippi providing trademark and patent services to U.S. innovators.

The new office will support workforce development in the state and region, especially in the advanced manufacturing and computing sectors, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said in a press release Monday. The office will provide inventors and entrepreneurs a direct connection to federal intellectual property resources and guidance tailored to Montana's technology ecosystem, the release said.

The announcement follows the closure of the USPTO's Rocky Mountain Regional Outreach Office in Denver this past October. The MSU-located office will serve part of an eight-state area including Montana, Colorado, Idaho, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming, according to the USPTO's announcement.

MSU was chosen as the site of the USPTO Community Engagement Office based on the university's robust research activity and its many graduate-level programs in areas that lead to innovations, as well as for MSU's concentration of resources for commercializing technologies and developing businesses and MSU's ability to support all innovators.

MSU President Brock Tessman said the university believes strongly in improving access to higher education, a mission he sees reflected in the benefits of a new USPTO office in the Gallatin Valley.

"This office will be a resource for Montana's entrepreneurs and innovators, not only in Bozeman but in rural areas of the Rocky Mountain West," he said. "It will provide access to opportunity for first-time inventors, small business owners and students throughout the region, leading to the kind of growth and innovation that drives our region's prosperity."

Alison Harmon, MSU's vice president for research and economic development, said the USPTO's programs have long supported MSU research activities, such as managing newly created technologies, applying for patents and spinning out new startups based in intellectual property developed at the university.

Having a USPTO Community Outreach Office at MSU will create more opportunities for the university's Technology Transfer Office and for MSU's national security-associated programs, such as MilTech and Techlink, as well as MSU's newly awarded Defense Innovation Unit On-Ramp Hub, she said.

"A Bozeman office will provide MSU programs that seek to accelerate research translation and commercialization easy access to appropriate tools, connecting discovery and innovation with society impact for Montana and beyond," Harmon said. "Additionally, educational programs will support MSU innovators in building existing technical knowledge and shortening the time for research activity to become practical solutions."

MSU is the state's largest university and has been designated an R1 research institution by the Carnegie Classification. A land-grant university, MSU plays a vital role in advancing innovation, economic opportunity and public service across the state and region.

Scientists perform cutting-edge research in fields such as engineering, national security, cybersecurity, bioscience, energy, agriculture, optics and quantum computing, among many others. In 2025, MSU reported a new record level of research expenditures with $288.7 million, most from federal funders, such as the departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, and Agriculture. In total, MSU's research enterprise is larger than all other public and private universities in the state combined.

The university's Technology Transfer Office drives the translation of university research into practice, including commercializing innovations. The office collaborates with industry, faculty, researchers, universities and industry partners to manage more than 700 technologies in wide-ranging fields from biotechnology and photonics to engineering and precision agriculture. Its work has resulted in more than 400 patents, plant variety protections, trademarks and copyrights and over 60 startups and spinout companies. Patents have been issued for MSU-developed technologies including a pest-fighting fungi meant to combat wheat stem sawfly, a radiation-tolerant computer meant for operation in outer space and lidar technologies for weather prediction, among many others.

Through a National Science Foundation-funded program called Accelerating Research Translation, MSU has supported what are known as seed translational research projects, or STRPs, providing funding and mentorship to directly advance promising research toward public benefit. The ART program at MSU has supported work that includes:

• A digital learning platform to help middle and high school students explore the college experience to prepare for their futures

• An innovative wearable medical device to help patients from rural and tribal communities take part in clinical trials

• Technology related to CRISPR gene-editing, which has applications ranging from vaccine development to the treatment of genetic diseases

• Tools to detect algal blooms in rivers and other waterways

• Genetic research to increase yield in durum wheat, which is used for making pasta and other grains

• Computers designed to function in space and resist cyberattacks, one of which was recently sent to the moon on a NASA mission

MSU is also home to units and partnerships that promote connections between researchers, industry and federal agencies to bring technologies to market. Those include:

• The Institute for National Security Research and Education, which strengthens national security by delivering technologies, supporting researchers and preparing leaders to safeguard the future of Montana and the United States.

• MSU's TechLink Center, which is the Department of Defense's only national partnership intermediary for technology transfer. Since 1999, TechLink has helped companies around the country license DOD inventions to create new products and services, transferring over 1,000 DOD inventions to industry. The center facilitates approximately 60% of all DOD license agreements nationwide.

• MilTech is an authorized National Government Partnership Intermediary that helps bring innovative technology to the U.S. government quickly, reliably and cost-effectively. Established in 2004, MilTech has over 300 active and completed projects with DOD and Department of Homeland Security.

• In 2025, the DOD named MSU a Defense Innovation Unit OnRamp Hub, which will bring the university's cutting-edge facilities and trained researchers together with companies to scale up and rapidly field technologies for use in defense projects. The hub will lead to more connections between MSU and Montana's business and technology communities and DIU funding opportunities.

Todd Daniels, who directs the DIU OnRamp Hub at MSU, said access to patent and trademark services is critical to national security.

"It ensures that sensitive technologies developed in the U.S. are protected, controlled by U.S. innovators, and not lost to foreign competitors," he said. "By securing intellectual property early, we accelerate the transition of breakthrough research into trusted domestic manufacturing and deployment, strengthening the resilience and competitiveness of our defense and industrial base."

Harmon noted that these programs and offices provide MSU students the chance to gain experience working with faculty members on innovation and commercialization.

"With access to this training, and support from MSU's campus entrepreneurship programs and resources, our students are empowered to launch their own enterprises as well," she said.

Over the past few decades, Bozeman has become a hub of technology spinout companies, many tracing their origins to research at MSU. The city hosts one of the nation's highest per capita concentrations of optics and photonics companies, with more than 40 companies employing over 1,200 people.