Cincinnati University’s Technology Commercialisation Accelerator (TCA) is set to benefit from a funding renewal of $1m – double the amount it attracted in 2012.
The funding comes via the state of Ohio’s Third Frontier Commission’s Entrepreneur Signature Program, which is spending $9m in fuel innovation efforts in the southwest of the state.
Created in 2012, the TCA acts as a hub for commercialisation at Cincinnati, and looks to fill the gap between a spin-out being set up and being ready for investment from external sources. The most promising companies submitted to the TCA become eligible for funding and receive strategic support from entrepreneurs-in-residence to develop commercialisation plans. So far, 13 projects have received funding from the accelerator, with a fourth round of firms due to be announced before the year’s end.
Dorothy Air, associate vice president for entrepreneurial affairs and technology commercialization at Cincinnati, said: “This funding is an important milestone for the UC Technology Commercialisation Accelerator as it moves the accelerator from pilot status to a fully launched vehicle for commercialising UC’s intellectual property. The accelerator is changing the way we conduct business and is expected to move the needle in our commercialisation outcomes.”
