University of Wisconsin’s IdeaAdvance fund announces its first round of seed funding. IdeaAdvance couples funds with support services, such as business mentoring and development assistance to encourage technology transfer from the UW System, especially those schools without a historic capability of transferring its ideas to the marketplace.
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Twelve University of Wisconsin faculty, staff, students and associated companies are receiving up to $25,000 apiece from the first Ideadvance Seed Fund, including four from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The grants come with business mentoring and business development assistance attached, all provided through a $2 million seed fund launched in February by the UW System and Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.
The UW-Extension’s Division of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development is additionally opening a second stage-one funding round through the fund. Proposals are due July 25.
Inaugural awardees include:
- NanoAffix Science, led by Junhong Chen, UW-Milwaukee
- Innovative Foundry Technologies, led byDan McGuire, UW-Whitewater
- EChemNanowires Educational Foundation, led by Mike Zach, UW-Stevens Point
- Cyder Technology, led by Nathan Gullick, UW-Extension
- Tali Payments, led by Carlton Reeves, UW-Milwaukee
- CSA Pros, led by Kory Peterson, UW-Eau Claire
- Grypshon, led by Tom Burden, UW-Milwaukee
- HealthPet, led by Jonathan Geissler, UW-Platteville
- Paddle-Kicker, led by Ashton Brusca, UW-Platteville
- Organic Research Corp. licensed technology, UW-Milwaukee Research Foundation
- Microionics patents through WiSys Technology Foundation
- Procubed, licensed technology from WiSys
Awardees include four students, three faculty, two staff and three companies licensing technologies through the WiSys Technology Foundation or UW-Milwaukee Research Foundation. Teams that complete this first stage of Ideadvance activities will be eligible for stage two funding, which offers grants up to $50,000.