UNC, NC State see commercialization thrive as Covid drives innovation

Despite Covid-19 causing worry among many in higher education over valuable revenue streams, research universities in the Triangle say their innovation and commercialization activity has never been higher. Officials tell TBJ that not only has activity continued to thrive throughout the pandemic, the increased demand for innovation around Covid-19 has them busier than ever. “We have not seen […]

MSU Conquer Accelerator selects five Grand Rapids startups for seed funding

Conquer Accelerator, a business accelerator run by the Michigan State University Foundation, has selected its first five cohort companies in Grand Rapids. Each of the five received $20,000 in seed funding and will go through a 10-week virtual business accelerator course this fall. The program also provides entrepreneurship training, mentorship, access to follow-on funding and other […]

How can universities be more intentional about their roles in local economies?

University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia’s University City. John Hopkins University and much of Baltimore city. The dichotomy and interdependence between a city and neighborhood that a university resides can often be summed up by the expression “town and gown” — there are the residents, and then there’s the academic population, and the two are distinct. John Hopkins is […]

UConn funds COVID-19 research through COVID-19 Research Seed Funding

The Office of the Vice President for Research has established an internal funding program for University of Connecticut projects from all campuses that focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, offering up to $50,000 to program participants. Currently, five projects from both UConn and UConn Health have been supported by this funding endeavor. The projects selected for […]

MSU Accelerator Starts Fifth Summer Cohort With Five Tech Startups 

The Michigan State University Foundation’s Conquer Accelerator announced the launch of its fifth season and summer 2020 cohort. The 10-week accelerator welcomes five selected teams to its East Lansing program: ARUtility, Lucypop, MenuBubble, PhenoLogic, and StarForged Studios. “It’s hard to believe that we’re already moving into our fifth year for Conquer Accelerator, but when I […]

UMSL begins business accelerator program geared toward underrepresented entrepreneurs

The University of Missouri-St. Louis’ entrepreneurship program, UMSL Accelerate, announced the launch Tuesday of a new business accelerator aimed at supporting founders of emerging companies who come from underrepresented backgrounds and marginalized communities. Called the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Accelerator, the application-based initiative is open to founders of early stage startup companies that “positively impact […]

Should the U.S. government start funding clean energy startups?

A new report from Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, released on Wednesday, says federal funding for the development of clean energy technologies is now a national strategic imperative. In the report, “Energizing America,” CGEP’s researchers cite figures from the International Energy Agency (IEA), which hold that of 46 critical energy technologies for deep decarbonization—efforts to limit global temperature rise to 2 […]