A group of Utah industry heads, government officials and education leaders have partnered to announce the launch of the Nucleus Institute, a body that organizers want to become the backbone for Utah innovators to compete in a global market in areas like energy development and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.
In partnership with the Utah System of Higher Education, the institute will help facilitate the concept-to-market path, the partners hope.
The Nucleus Institute was born from legislation passed by lawmakers during the 2025 legislative session. The new law restructured the Utah Innovation Lab and paved the way for the institute as “an independent, nonprofit, quasi-public corporation.” The goal is a collaboration among higher education, industry and government to make ideas become reality. The law included a $555,400 allocation from the Income Tax Fund for compensation and benefits for the institute board’s executive director, for compensation of the chair of the innovation fund and to pay for an annual audit of the effort during 2026 and 2027.
With the institute, researchers and entrepreneurs can search for solutions to early-stage funding challenges, moving forward from concept to market or finding spaces to collaborate, the institute said in announcing its launch.
“Nucleus connects students, researchers, innovators and mentors to high-impact opportunities, bridging the gap between idea and execution,” the release said. “It addresses early-stage funding challenges, helping research and startups move from concept to market.”
The institute will also support long-term systems for innovation by aligning talent development, strategic partnerships and real-world problem-solving, organizers said. Anchored at Convergence Hall, an innovation campus at Point of the Mountain also envisioned by the state Legislature, Nucleus will create physical and collaborative environments, where disciplines converge and innovation districts across Utah can operate cooperatively.
The institute is also expected to collaborate with different innovation organizations across the state, including the Utah Inland Port Authority and innovation labs at public universities.
“This is more than a launch,” said Jefferson Moss, newly named executive director of the Nucleus Institute. “Nucleus is the culmination of years of effort to position Utah as a global leader in innovation and economic impact.”
“Utah is at a pivotal point,” Gov. Spencer Cox said at the launch event, “We’ve laid the foundation; now it’s time to build on it. The Nucleus Institute brings the right people to the table to help us scale what we do best: solve real problems, grow smart, and lead with purpose.
“We are never going to regulate our way out of the most difficult problems that we’re facing as a country,” Cox continued. “We can only innovate, and the state does play a role in that, and so does higher ed, but especially the private sector. It is all about passing that knowledge of innovation, those skills that are so necessary to compete on a global scale, and passing them on to the next generation. It’s about investing in companies that are going to solve those wicked problems that we’re facing right now as a country. We know that the solutions are out there. We just need to discover them.”
The $40 million Utah Innovation Fund that supports tech startups across Utah will be rebranded as the Nucleus Fund. The Utah Innovation Center, now dubbed Nucleus Grow, joins the institute in guiding research from Utah’s campuses to the marketplace. Also, skilled workforce program Talent Ready Utah, in partnership with Nucleus and the Utah System of Higher Education, has launched Talent Hub, the state’s new, unified platform for internships, apprenticeships and employment.
“The Nucleus Institute is Utah’s cross-sector innovation catalyst — uniting universities, industry, government and entrepreneurs to turn ideas into impact. By offering connection, commercialization, funding, systemic solutions and innovation spaces, Nucleus empowers Utah’s next generation of breakthroughs and economic growth,” the institute’s release concluded.