ASCEND, Accelerating Solutions for Commercialization and Entrepreneurial Development in the Mountain West IDeA States

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Project Summary The objective of this proposal is to create a Mountain West region technology Accelerator Hub to conduct research on developing, implementing, and testing a comprehensive collateral and consulting offering for promoting biomedical entrepreneurship, technology transfer, management, small business finance, and additional business skills needed to commercialize basic research to enhance human health. Many limiting factors hamper the ultimate goal of commercializing basic and translational science in IDeA states, including a gap in funding between basic research discoveries and scientific feasibility or validation studies required to define a product for early stage technology development, a lack of knowledge and understanding by innovators about how technologies are brought to market, a lack of access to sufficient technology development and commercialization resources for early-stage technology development, limited resources in Technology Transfer and Commercialization Offices, an insufficient number of local technology businesses to create a critical mass of entrepreneurial expertise and culture; a lack of exposure to commercialization education, training, and mentoring (including in patents, startups, business plans, venture capital and angel investing), a limited knowledge of technology transfer and SBIR/STTR programs; and a lack of awareness of available resources at the local, state and regional levels. To address these goals, we propose to create a regional technology Accelerator Hub throughout the Mountain West (Western) region of IDeA states that is closely networked with Mountain West IDeA state universities and their affiliated Technology Transfer Offices and small business partners. This network will provide the framework for effective communication and outreach that will create institutional change and build an entrepreneurial culture throughout this region. We will provide robust education and training of students and researchers and other entrepreneurs to accelerate development of commercialization activities, substantially increasing SBIR/STTR applications and facilitating communication between the NIH and IDeA institutions. The objectives of this application are to: 1) establish infrastructure, develop educational materials (curricula, texts, webinars, workshops and courses), and train staff; 2) accelerate entrepreneurialism through innovator mentoring, SBIR/STTR application submission, and increased partnering activity; 3) increase visibility of technological advancements, industry partnerships and licensing revenues through outreach, coaching and partnering activities, at each of the Mountain West IDeA state institutions. The product of this work will be the ASCEND solution, a comprehensive, sustainable educational and consulting services offering that will be leveraged across the Mountain West IDeA States-collaborating biomedical institutions and marketed to other institutions that want to accelerate biomedical entrepreneurship, thus ensuring the long-term sustainability, dissemination, and impact of this program.