The
Office for Technology Commercialization (OTC) has helped numerous
University of Minnesota researchers, becoming an engine for economic development. Now, it's even more useful for university-based entrepreneurs.
A new program will eliminate the kind of roadblocks that have challenged researchers in the past. Previously, researchers have had difficulties launching startups within the university, since some federal business grants require a certain amount of time spent on the business. Researchers struggled to fit their entrepreneurial ventures together with their academic duties.
But now, they can turn to the OTC for assistance, notes university spokesperson John Merritt. The office will help faculty members create companies and avoid conflicts of interest. Entrepreneurs can use the school's lab for business projects, and the university will own 49 percent of the company.
The OTC will guide faculty in the formation of a business, and will assist in recruitment of formal management teams for each new company.
The new approach is part of a move toward making the university more entrepreneurial, and geared more toward winning federal grants like
Small Business Technology Transfer and
Small Business Innovation Research.
Merritt adds that the OTC has been in a process of reinvention itself over the last three or four years. This fresh program should help university researchers and faculty to be more competitive for grants, and pursue entrepreneurial ventures in the future.
Source: John Merritt, University of Minnesota
Writer: Elizabeth Millard