Virtual and augmented reality gains its own incubator at University of Washington while the institution rebrands its incubation spaces and opens them up to external startups.
University of Washington has rebranded its incubation space to Comotion Labs while introducing an incubator focused specifically on virtual and augmented reality technologies.
As part of the rebranding to Comotion Labs, the university plans to expand its portfolio by also welcoming external companies without an explicit connection to the institution.
Vikram Jandhyala, vice-president for innovation strategy at University of Washington, noted that when space is limited preference will be given to university-related businesses.
So far, two startups have joined Comotion’s VR space. The first company, Mechanical Dreams, is a VR film production company, without any connection to Washington.
The second is startup is Multimodal Health, which has developed a motivation and tracking platform for arm and hand rehabilitation.
Jandhyala said: “We are definitely open to different models of how companies come together. The idea of all these three incubators is we want to be open to companies from inside and outside the university.”
