May 4—CHAMPAIGN – A local tech startup incubator will receive $50,000 to help fuel an initiative focused on connecting scientific minds with emerging business leaders.
The University of Illinois Research Park’s EnterpriseWorks incubator has been named a Stage One winner in the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC).
“At the University of Illinois we have very prolific researchers and an incredible portfolio of new technologies,” said Director of Entrepreneurship Gerald Wilson.
“However, not as many entrepreneurs. Not as many professors or their graduate students are willing to take the responsibility of developing these technologies and bringing them to market.”
The SBA awarded Stage One designations to organizations that presented “impactful and inclusive approaches to fostering a thriving and collaborative national innovation support ecosystem to advance small business research and development.”
The SBA will award additional cash prizes of $50,000 to $150,000 during Stage Two, with submissions opening in June.
The agency plans to announce the winners of the second stage in September.
EnterpriseWorks’ GAFC project is a new program known as the Enterprise Leadership Development Accelerator (ELDA), which is designed to identify and cultivate talent to “develop and/or support academic co-founders in the formation, launch and growth of new companies based in science”. new companies,” research park officials said.
“In my opinion, identifying and recruiting co-founders is the biggest obstacle to making a real-world impact with UIUC research. Many, perhaps most, of our faculty inventors would welcome the opportunity to work with a graduate student , postdoc or external company. side to commercialize their technologies,” said Michelle Chitambar, Senior Technology Manager in the university’s Technology Management Office.
OTM will work with EnterpriseWorks to identify technology in the fields of sustainability and biotechnology that could serve as a potential foundation for new businesses, research park officials said.
During the first phase, EnterpriseWorks will work with university partners and organizations across the state to define participant profiles, recruitment processes, curriculum and mentoring.
The incubator hopes to emerge from this period with a curriculum that can serve as a foundation for ELDA and also be leveraged by stakeholders throughout Illinois, Wilson said.
According to EnterpriseWorks, funds from the second phase would be used to implement the ELDA program and launch its first cohort in the fall of 2024.
“The cohort will be trained as part of an intensive 12-week business leadership training program before being deployed to existing businesses or to support new businesses,” research park officials said.
The program aims to recruit cohorts that are at least 50 percent women or other underrepresented groups.
When asked how he feels about the likelihood of receiving Stage Two funding, Wilson responded, “I think our chances are good. I think we, as EnterpriseWorks, have had a history of taking advantage of these types of funds and putting them to work.” work to test new programs.”