West Virginia University (WVU) https://www.wvu.edu along with 23 other regional institutions are in the process of creating a virtual hub that will help to speed the commercialization for groundbreaking university research.
The hub will help accelerate cutting-edge biomedical technologies and products when they move from the laboratory into the marketplace and also commercialize new innovations in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, healthcare IT, and electronics.
WVU, University of Kentucky, and the University of Louisville, will co-lead university activities with regard to the effort. The organized consortium of participating regional universities will collaborate with XLerateHealth https://www.xleratehealth.com, a small business focusing on healthcare technology startups and commercialization.
The hub will help accelerate cutting-edge biomedical technologies and products move from the laboratory into the marketplace and at this point, be able to commercialize new innovations in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, healthcare IT, and electronics.
Through the creation of the online “virtual hub”, WVU, XLerateHealth, University of Kentucky, and University of Louisville, will coordinate programming, provide educational resources, and develop tools for all participating institutions to utilize.
There will also be support services to help entrepreneurs protect their intellectual property and assist in technology transfer to forge mutually beneficial relationships between researchers and the business community. Also business coaching, business incubation, and networking opportunities will be offered.
The hub is being funded by a three year $3.5 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences https://www.nigms.nih.gov within NIH. So far, according to Richard Giersch Principal Investigator and Director of the Health Sciences Innovation Center https://hsic.wvu.edu at WVU, “This new partnership will build on the success of WVU’s Health Sciences Innovation Center created to foster WVU intellectual property. So far, the Innovation Center has helped bring more than $3 million in private investment and over $6 million in grant funding to West Virginia over the past three years.”