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January 2008 |
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This issue home | Past issues | MTBC home Often referred to as the “valley of death”, a gap between invention and commercialization exists that prevents many university research discoveries from ever becoming commercialized. In order to plug this gap, The University of Texas System Board of Regents established a $2 million fund called the Texas Ignition Program (TIP).
The program was created out of the findings from a committee co-chaired by Madison Pedigo of Texas Instruments, Matt Blanton of STARTech and Arjun Sanja of The U.T. System. This committee discovered that research and products spawned through universities often require significant additional effort and capital in order to bring to market. It was found that most research related grants often do not cover the costs of further commercial development. The TIP was prescribed as the remedy to these problems. The TIP will make available, on a competitive basis, grants of up to $50,000 for university discoveries at all 15 UT System institutions. The costs may be used for the following:
In some cases, grant funds may be applied to cover costs of faculty support and patents costs. Proposals may be made to the Office of Research and Technology Transfer. The proposal may then be reviewed by the “Ignition Board” made up of individuals from the fields of science, technology, engineering, math, IP law, business and venture capital. Once awarded, the Office of Research and Technology Transfer will assess the performance of the awards on a six-month schedule based on the following metrics:
Questions about the program should be addressed to Matt Flores or Spencer Miller Payne at (512) 499-4363. For more information on the TIP, contact Manuel Tellez or at (972) 792-2864.Tech Link is a monthly publication of the Metroplex Technology Business Council Communications Department. |
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