CHAMPION — A local incubator for tech startups is receiving $50,000 to help jump-start an initiative focused on connecting scientific thinking with emerging entrepreneurial leaders.
The University of Illinois Research Park’s EnterpriseWorks Incubator has been named a Stage 1 winner of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 Growth Acceleration Fund Competition (GAFC).
“The University of Illinois has an incredibly prolific pool of researchers and an incredible portfolio of new technologies,” said Gerald Wilson, director of entrepreneurship.
“But we don’t have a lot of entrepreneurs. We don’t have a lot of faculty and graduate students who are willing to take on the role of bringing these technologies out into the world and bringing them to market.”
The SBA awards Stage 1 designation to organizations that present an “impactful and comprehensive approach to fostering a thriving and collaborative national innovation support ecosystem to advance small business research and development.” I gave it.
The SBA plans to award an additional $50,000 to $150,000 in awards during the second stage, which opens for applications in June.
The agency plans to announce the Stage 2 winner by September.
EnterpriseWorks’ GAFC project is a new program known as the Entrepreneurial Leadership Development Accelerator (ELDA). The program aims to identify and develop talent to “develop and/or support academic co-founders in the formation, launch and growth of new science-based projects.” It is a start-up company,” said a research park official.
“In my opinion, identifying and recruiting co-founders is the single biggest bottleneck in UIUC research to have real-world impact. Many, perhaps most, of the inventors on our faculty We welcome the opportunity to work with students, postdocs, or external business-side leaders to commercialize our technology,” said Michelle Chitambar, senior technology manager in the university’s Office of Technology Management.
OTM will work with EnterpriseWorks to identify technologies that could form the basis of new businesses in the sustainability and biotechnology fields, research park officials said.
In the first phase, EnterpriseWorks will work with university partners and organizations across the state to define participant profiles, recruitment, curriculum, and instructional processes.
Wilson said the incubator hopes to get through this period with a curriculum that will serve as a foundation for ELDA and can also be used by stakeholders across Illinois.
The second phase of funding will be used to implement the ELDA program, with the first cohort expected to begin in fall 2024, according to EnterpriseWorks.
“This cohort will be trained as part of an intensive 12-week entrepreneurial leadership training program, prior to deployment into existing ventures or supporting new spin-outs,” research park officials said. Ta.
The program aims to recruit cohorts that are at least 50% female or other underrepresented groups.
When asked what he thought about the possibility of receiving Stage 2 funding, Mr Wilson replied: “I’m not sure. I think we at EnterpriseWorks have a history of leveraging this type of funding and leveraging it to pilot new programs. ”
