The funding will be shared between Michigan Corporate Relations Network and Technology Transfer Talent Network, two schemes which assist all Michigan state-owned universities.

Two assistance programs for all Michigan-based higher education institutions have received $2.66m in funding from public-private investment partnership Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC).

MEDC will administer the funds over the space of one year, channelling $1.4m into Michigan Corporate Relations Network (MCRN) and $1.26m into Technology Transfer Talent Network (T3N). Both are managed by University of Michigan.

Launched in 2011, MCRN manages certain university funding programs open to small businesses while publicising and working with entrepreneurs to improve their chances of securing capital.

The initiative was formed as a partnership of University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, Michigan Technological University, Western Michigan University and University of Michigan-Dearborn.

One MCRN mechanism is the Small Company Innovation Program, under which small businesses conducting research at any Michigan public-owned university can access grants of up to $40,000, matched by the companies themselves.

The scheme backed 21 research projects during 2016, generating 42 patents and three licences.

Meanwhile, T3N started in 2012 as a tech transfer partnership of University of Michigan, Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University, Michigan Technological University, Oakland University, Wayne State University and Western Michigan University.

Programs run by T3N include tech transfer work placements for graduate students and a mentors-in-residence program that allows entrepreneurs to lend their business networks and acumen to commercialisation programs across the state.

T3N worked with 32 mentors-in-residence during 2016 through 187 research projects which yielded 18 spinouts and more than $11m in follow-on funding.

Denise Graves, university relations director at the MEDC public-private partnership, said: “Renewed funding of the MCRN and T3N programs represents the value and continued investment placed on spurring Michigan’s economy through the exceptional talent and vast resources available at the university level.”