Hoping to speed up tech transfer efforts, the university has set up the Innovation Commercialisation Advisory Network.
University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) has established an Innovation Commercialisation Advisory Network (ICAN). The initiative comes via the institution’s Office of Innovation Commercialisation.
Aiming to speed up the technology transfer process, ICAN is based on UNCG’s past experiences that scientific advisory boards can often be too much of a burden to participants. Instead of setting up such panels, ICAN holds invitation-only networking events where faculty members can approach potential funders, advisers or partners.
The first networking event was held in March 2014 and saw 80 attendees. The second event is planned for September 2014.
Staton Noel, who only took over as director of the Office of Innovation Commercialisation in July 2013, said: “Our goal is not to make it formal and burdensome, but to give everyone a place to connect and talk about what we have going on. I think the success will be seen story by story. Somebody met somebody here, it led to this and then this. The goal is to increase our exposure to all points in the community.”