Recently, the vice chancellor for innovation at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) launched a fund to support the commercialization of technologies developed by faculty, staff, and students. In 2016, the Department of Education affirmed UIC as a Hispanic-Serving Institution. The five-year grant supports UIC’s efforts to increase the number of Latino/a students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.
The new UIC Innovation fund will be managed in partnership with its Office of Technology Management (OTM), and attract researchers from all disciplines to elevate their ideas into life-changing technologies, the vice-chancellor said in an open letter.
“I would like to thank the OTM and IllinoisVENTURES for managing the CTRI and POC Awards Program. Their dedication and commitment to catalyzing technology commercialization at UIC is clear in the success of both programs. IllinoisVENTURES will continue to be involved in the selection of projects, while the OTM will continue to take part in the management of these critical initiatives,” wrote Vice Chancellor for Innovation TJ Augustine.
Launched in 2018, the Chancellor’s Translational Research Initiative (CTRI) program provides up to $25,000 to help prepare early-stage projects with high potential for licensing and startup opportunities or future funding opportunities that support commercialization like the Proof-of-Concept (POC) Award Program
The OTM launched the POC Award Program in partnership with IllinoisVENTURES in early 2012 to bridge the funding gap between basic scientific research and its entry into the marketplace as a sustainable technology. Selected proposals receive up to $50,000 for an initial six-month project, with the potential to compete for an additional $150,000 to further develop projects towards commercialization.
(Photo credit: Hied5 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2109948)
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