University of Chicago Polsky Center
From Research Lab to Marketplace
Services
- Information Architecture
- UX/UI
- WordPress Development
Industry
- Higher Education
Key Results
- Content editing made easy by leveraging the WordPress Block Editor and a tokenized design system.
- Integrated the Inteum intellectual property database into WordPress via API
- Connected Airtable databases and the university calendar system
- Unified multiple data sources into one seamless digital experience
- Reduced manual content management across systems
Background
The University of Chicago's Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation helps transform research into real-world companies, partnerships, and commercial opportunities. It supports students, faculty, entrepreneurs, investors, and community partners through programs that encourage innovation, protect intellectual property, and accelerate new ventures.
As the organization expanded, so did the number of systems supporting its work. Program information, intellectual property, events, and operational data lived in separate platforms, making it difficult for visitors to discover opportunities and for staff to keep information synchronized.
Challenge
The Polsky Center intellectual property directory was managed through Inteum. Additional program information lived in Airtable, while events originated in the university calendar system. Each platform served an important purpose, but together they created disconnected experiences for visitors and unnecessary manual work for staff.
The goal was to bring these systems together into a single digital experience that made work easier to discover without requiring content to be managed in multiple places.
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Development
Our engagement began with discovery, stakeholder interviews, audience research, and information architecture to better understand how students, faculty, researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, and community members interacted with the Polsky Center. The resulting strategy shifted the experience toward audience-centered pathways that made programs, resources, and opportunities easier to find.
Behind the scenes, we focused on connecting the systems that powered the organization.
The Inteum intellectual property database was integrated directly into WordPress through its API, allowing commercialization information to flow automatically into the website. Additional integrations with Airtable databases and the university calendar system created a unified platform where content, events, and innovation resources could be surfaced dynamically without duplicate data entry.
Solution
The finished platform gives the Polsky Center a connected digital ecosystem that brings together intellectual property, entrepreneurship programs, events, and university resources in one place.
Visitors experience a simpler path to the information they need, while staff spend less time maintaining disconnected systems and more time supporting innovation across the university.
The Polsky website is a connected digital ecosystem making life easier for the staff to update and for visitors to use.
