The University of Cincinnati (UC) Technology Commercialization Accelerator has received a funding renewal of $1 million from Ohio’s Third Frontier Commission, double the amount the accelerator received in an initial round of funds from the Third Frontier in 2012.
The award comes via the Third Frontier Entrepreneur Signature Program, which runs through CincyTech and will bring more than $9 million to southwest Ohio to fund innovation efforts.
“This funding is an important milestone for the UC Technology Commercialization Accelerator as it moves the accelerator from pilot status to a fully launched vehicle for commercializing UC’s intellectual property,” says Dorothy Air, PhD, associate vice president for entrepreneurial affairs and technology commercialization at UC. “The accelerator is changing the way we conduct business and is expected to move the needle in our commercialization outcomes.”
The UC Technology Commercialization Accelerator, created in 2012, serves to address the natural gap that exists at many universities and in many regions: University technologies are regularly too early stage to generate interest by those with investment dollars.
Serving as a hub for innovation and commercialization activity at UC, the accelerator puts focus on identifying promising technologies and furthering those projects and ideas so that they can attract interest from outside funding sources.
Technologies submitted for the accelerator are assessed to determine viable start-up company opportunities, with the most promising selected for funding. Entrepreneurs-in-Residence facilitate the work needed to develop commercialization strategies and advance the commercial potential of the technologies.
To date, 13 projects have been awarded funding through three rounds of applications to UC’s Technology Commercialization Accelerator. A fourth round of funding is expected to be announced later this month.
Funding for the accelerator comes from Ohio’s Third Frontier Entrepreneur Signature Program, UC’s partnership with CincyTech, the university’s 2019 Entrepreneur Grant funds and additional external sources.
via Accelerator Gets $1 Million from Ohio’s Third Frontier Program.
