Washington University in St. Louis and Saint Louis University are launching the COLLAB, a first-of-its-kind initiative designed to harness the research and talent generation capacities of the region’s universities to accelerate innovation and growth through connection, collaboration and commercialization.
Underscoring their shared commitment to the St. Louis region, the two universities will share space in the COLLAB, a 7,700-square-foot suite in the heart of Cortex, the region’s largest innovation district. 
“The McKelvey School of Engineering is dedicated to being a driving force for economic development in the St. Louis region,” Dean Aaron Bobick said. “We are excited to be partnering with Saint Louis University as the synergies between the two schools are clear and Cortex is the natural location for such collaboration.”
“The COLLAB will be a destination for building the creative, cross-cutting collaborations which are a hallmark of St. Louis and one of our distinctive strengths,” said Ken Olliff, vice president for research at Saint Louis University.
Read more about COLLAB here.
About the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University: The McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis focuses intellectual efforts through a new convergence paradigm and builds on strengths, particularly as applied to medicine and health, energy and environment, entrepreneurship and security. With 96.5 tenured/tenure-track and 33 additional full-time faculty, 1,300 undergraduate students, 1,200 graduate students and 20,000 alumni, we are working to leverage our partnerships with academic and industry partners — across disciplines and across the world — to contribute to solving the greatest global challenges of the 21st century.
About Saint Louis University: Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Catholic institutions. Rooted in Jesuit values and its pioneering history as the first university west of the Mississippi River, SLU offers nearly 13,000 students a rigorous, transformative education of the whole person. At the core of the University’s diverse community of scholars is SLU’s service-focused mission, which challenges and prepares students to make the world a better, more just place. For more information, visit slu.edu.
About the Cortex Innovation Community: Founded in 2002 through a collaboration of Washington University in St. Louis, BJC Healthcare, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Saint Louis University, and the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Cortex Innovation Community is a nationally and internationally recognized hub of innovation and technology commercialization. It serves as an anchor in St. Louis’ growing ecosystem of innovative startups and established companies. Cited by the Brookings Institution as a Best Practice among global urban innovation districts, Cortex is home to 350 technology-related businesses, and it provides a deep pool of entrepreneurial support programs available to the entire St. Louis community.