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• Position: Triangle

Duke University and UNC Chapel Hill, rivals on the field and off, are once again chasing the same goal: the next Gatorade. They have launched initiatives to get lucrative ideas like the sports drink that University of Florida medical researchers created--its sales exceeded $7 billion in 2009--out of labs and classrooms and into the marketplace. Both are tapping business for help during lean times when the budgets of both could stand a boost from licensing fees companies pay to turn research into products.

Duke recently chose a former top Microsoft executive, Kimberly Jenkins, for the new position of senior adviser to the president and provost for innovation and entrepreneurship. That same day, Carolina unveiled what it called a road map for innovation: steps to encourage and reward bright ideas, particularly those with economic potential. It hopes to raise $125 million from private sources--more than $15 million was in hand by early December--to accelerate efforts. Both universities will focus not just on such mainstays of technology transfer as pharmaceuticals and computer hardware but also on "soft" innovation--from education and the humanities.

Judith Cone's title of special assistant to the chancellor for innovation and entrepreneurship at Carolina mirrors Jenkins' at Duke. She has held the job about a year. "We can do this better," she says. "All universities in the Triangle can.We want to make sure ideas don't get lost, that they don't stagnate and get put on a shelf."

Private Duke and state-supported Carolina face similar pressures--budget squeezes and rising costs. Duke recently froze employee salaries through June as part of a three-year plan to save $125 million. At Chapel Hill, trustees increased tuition about 5%, and some university officials fear the legislature might cut their budgets as much as 15% for the fiscal year that begins in July.

Both universities produce millions in licensing revenue but lag state leader Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. In the latest survey by the Deerfield, III.-based Association of...