Universities Develop Private-Public Partnerships to Transform Research into Startups

Across the U.S. and Canada, universities continue to forge public-private partnerships focused on creating a formalized approach to turn university research into market-ready products and startup companies. Three universities and their respective partners recently have announced efforts to bring inventors, the community and investors closer together. They also intended to provide potential entrepreneurs with the skills, mentorship and resources need to launch a startup company. Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (British Columbia, Canada) launched a $210,000 high-tech entrepreneurship initiative that will establish an incubator targeted at third- and fourth-year business and applied sciences students. The program will provide skills, mentors and resources to help launch new, student-led startups from innovative ideas. Students accepted into the program will take a variety of courses and have access to mentors, scholarships and a product design studio. Over the next seven years, the university hopes to accept 20 to 25 students with the goal of producing six potential companies or products annually. The initiative received approximately $205,000 in matching funds from the province through the British Columbia Innovation Council. Read the press release... University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) recently unveiled the Invention to Innovation (i2i) initiative — a formalized approach intended to directly link the business community to university research activities. UAB, in partnership with the Birmingham Business Alliance, hopes to match potential entrepreneurs and research teams with technology-specific mentors (i.e., market experts, technology experts or as entrepreneurial quarterbacks). The University also intends to revive a certificate in the life sciences entrepreneurship program. Currently, the four-course graduate program is working with candidates in the Alabama Launchpad, a statewide competition between tech-based startups held by the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama. However, the certificate will be made available to all students in the future. Read the press release... University of Arizona Tech Launch Arizona is intended to help University of Arizona (UA) students and researchers move their inventions from the labs to the marketplace. The initiative is intended to restructure university technology transfer and commercialization and bring UA inventors, the community and investors closer together. To achieve these goals, Tech Launch Arizona will consolidate resources and provide funding for proof-of-concept tests, or prototyping and testing. The state will contribute about $1 million a year in funding from the Technology Research Initiative Fund to increase this funding through Tech Launch Arizona. The program also will work to match business students with innovators to help with business plans and potentially create startup companies. Currently, Tech Launch Arizona is a decentralized hub, but long-term the University plans to construct a physical area to house Tech Launch projects.