The University of Louisville is expanding resources for entrepreneurs and innovators looking to engage with the university to solve problems, develop new products and launch startups.
UofL’s Office of Research and Innovation has recently hired a new director of industry partnerships, who will help both new and established companies work with the university. And, a newly launched office, UofL New Ventures, will support research-backed startups, from forging connections with experienced and potential company founders to helping them attract funding and market share.
“We’ve built a truly thriving innovation ecosystem at UofL, and its effects stretch far beyond our campus,” said Kevin Gardner, executive vice president for research and innovation. “We have a long track record of success in getting UofL research out into the world, driving significant societal and economic impact through new companies, technologies and other innovations that improve the way we live and work. Our goal is to expand that impact.”
UofL hired former longtime Ernst & Young partner David Calzi to support companies working with the university to solve problems and innovate. Calzi said that work can take many forms, including everything from smaller student projects or sponsored research projects to use of the university’s core facilities and equipment for prototyping and R&D, to larger collaborations.
“UofL offers a wealth of resources for companies of all stages and sizes looking to find solutions, innovate and grow,” Calzi said. “The potential impact — for our community, and for the companies we work with — is extraordinary and the possibilities are limitless.”
To support the launch of new startups, the UofL New Ventures office will provide broad entrepreneurial support, connecting research-backed innovations with founders looking to license and take them to market. In fiscal year 2020, UofL was awarded 48 new patents and earned $9.4 million from license royalties and other related income, its best year on record and a 30% increase over the year prior.
The increased income was propelled by a strong year of deals and startups, with seven new companies launched. Those startups include a new company commercializing a university technology for producing low-calorie sweetener and bio-coal from spent distillers’ grain and one commercializing a tool for measuring employee engagement.
“We’ve had a lot of success and built momentum with these efforts to spur entrepreneurship and innovation on our campus and beyond,” said Will Metcalf, associate vice president for research development and partnerships, who will lead the new office. “With UofL New Ventures, we are bringing several of our efforts together to accelerate that momentum, creating meaningful impact through translational research, innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development.”
UofL New Ventures will manage several entrepreneurship and innovation programs, including the university’s Entrepreneurs in Residence program, which brings seasoned founders to the university to help guide research-backed inventions to market. The EIRs are part of a synergistic relationship with Amplify, a state-backed effort to provide programming, mentorship and other support to entrepreneurs and further the regional startup economy.
The office will also manage innovation training and development, including LaunchIt, UofL’s 10-week startup and corporate innovation bootcamp, and the university’s ‘superfecta’ suite of innovation-associated awards to support the translation of research into viable commercial products. UofL is one of only a handful of universities in the country to receive each of these awards, and is the only one to receive all of them.*
UofL ranks as one of only 69 U.S. community-engaged “Research 1” universities with “very high research activity,” according to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
Learn more about engaging with UofL here.
*According to University of Louisville.
