U Virginia Launches Crowdfunding Initiative
The University of Virginia (and an increasing number of research universities) is leveraging crowd-sourced funding to support and highlight ongoing research projects. “We hear from a lot of stakeholders and a lot of others that they would like to know more [about projects] and understand how to better engage with us,” said Mark Crowell, executive […]
U Houston GEAR Program Supports Researchers At $30K An Idea
Ask any professor: A good idea alone isn’t likely to receive serious research funding. Big awards almost always have some data that supports the project, that shows the researcher’s idea should work. In a classic catch-22, though, getting this data itself takes money. Materials for experiments, graduate student time, lab space, computing power – none […]
One Year In, Harvard XFund Backs Three Start-ups, Ratchets Up Student Entrepreneurship
When a group of Harvard alumni formed the Experiment Fund (Xfund) a little over a year ago, they were hoping that their seed fund would nourish a burgeoning entrepreneurial culture on campus—and beyond—and make a profit as well. New companies are spawned in garages, basements, and at kitchen tables everywhere. But the most productive environments for incubating […]
University of Iowa Accepting Pre-Proposals For Commercialization Awards Program
UIRF is accepting pre-proposals for the 2013 commercialization award program. Despite the delay in the Iowa state final budget approval, UIRF is now accepting pre-proposal innovation summaries. As we did last year, we will work with PIs to perform IP and market assessments on each summary. Pre-proposals successfully completing these assessments will be asked to submit […]
UCalifornia-Riverside Announces 2013/14 POC Fund
The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development announces the FY2013-2014 Proof of Concept for Technology Commercialization (POC) Award Program. The POC award provides UCR investigators up to $35,000 to further develop a commercializable invention based upon UCR intellectual property not yet licensed. The effort should address a critical issue, such as
UT Horizon Fund Aims to Build, and Capture, Value from Its Startups
Like other universities, UT has already acquired ownership stakes in spinoff companies by accepting equity as part of the compensation for licensing its intellectual property to startups. Since the Horizon Fund began operations last year, it has been able to invest aggressively, at a time when many universities can’t. The UT Horizon Fund has also […]