College of Health Sciences Entrepreneurship Plan

Objective

The College of Health Sciences (CHS) seeks to support student, staff and faculty innovators in moving their ideas and inventions to market to positively impact society. Directly aligned with the CHS Strategic Plan (2022-27), the Entrepreneurship Plan embodies one of the college’s core guiding principles – Inspiring Ingenuity, and it manifests the objective to: “Advance a culture of innovation and collaboration in research and creative work that integrates disciplines and promotes translation from the bench to the clinic to address local, national and international challenges.”

CHS has leveraged UK’s robust commercialization infrastructure by establishing a pipeline and partnership with the UK Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC). Through this partnership, we will support innovators with the potential to move their ideas forward and who actively continue on a positive trajectory to translate their innovation to positively impact communities, across the Commonwealth and beyond. We will provide initial financial support to develop an early product after the innovator has successfully completed the UAccel and regional I-CorpsTM program, if indicated by OTC. With the wide variety of innovations, we anticipate the types and amounts of support to vary, and we will work with the OTC to identify the appropriate amount and strategy. We eagerly anticipate CHS’ innovator success, and we look forward to the impact the College’s innovation has on those around us.

Steps to move your idea or invention forward:

Meet with the ADR to discuss your interest in the program and plans for the future.
Participate and complete the UAccel program.
The ADR, UK OTC commercialization manager, and appropriate OTC and UAccel leaders will review findings and determine if the proposed idea has potential and should move forward in the commercialization process.
If suggested by OTC and UAccel leaders, complete the regional I-CorpsTM program and continue to more fully develop the business model and minimal value proposition (MVP).
Submit national I-CorpsTM program application to the ADR with a request for needed resources.
1. The application should include an executive summary (see Appendix A) and a sustainability plan demonstrating commitment to moving forward with development.
The ADR will review the plan and consult with UK OTC on the applicant’s needs and the development of the MVP.
The applicant and ADR will meet again to discuss the application, the request for funding, and determine the award amount.
The applicant should apply to the national I-CorpsTM training, and seek foundational, federal (STTR, SBIR) and philanthropic giving to help sustain their efforts as appropriate.
After the award, brief the ADR at least quarterly by email and biannually in person on the progress and pain points of their project.

Appendix A

Executive Summary Prompt

Project Title:

Team Composition and Background

In two to three sentences, describe the current composition of the team from a business development perspective (i.e., entrepreneurial lead, technical lead, PI, etc.). Additionally, identify any team needs that will need to be filled in order to be successful (i.e., entrepreneurial lead, technical lead, PI, industry mentor, etc.).

Innovation (Intellectual Merit)

Provide a high-level and succinct description of the innovation, including it functional capabilities. Do not provide a lot of details, specifications, etc. Be clear about how the innovation is unique and how it compares to similar products.

Commercial Applications (Broader Impacts)

This is your current best guess/hypothesis of the potential applications and customers for the innovation. The key is being very specific about your market. Markets that appear too vague and ill-defined will get extra scrutiny in the review process. At the same time, you should indicate a willingness to let the customer discovery process guide you toward the strongest pull/need in the market. Please mention specific people (by job title and company) that you think might be interested in the technology and why they might be interested. What problem do you solve for whom? Be especially careful to avoid listing “industries” (e.g. oil and gas will be interested in my tech …).

Current Commercialization and Sustainability Plan

Brief description of the current commercialization plan, including steps and milestones. The reviewers understand it is preliminary and likely incorrect. It just shows you have given some thought to the issue. You are not “graded” on the accuracy of this portion of the executive summary. Try to include the following:

How are you going to address the technical risk? For example, key milestones might be building a feasibility prototype or first product prototype. What technical risk are the prototypes trying to address? What testing do you need to do?
How are you going to address the market risk? What level of market knowledge will you need before moving forward with the technology development?
Do you plan on forming a company or licensing the technology? Do you plan on applying for an SBIR or raising venture capital? Are there other translational grant sources in the University that you plan to apply for? Do you need to hire key team members or expertise? How do you plan to ensure that the innovation will continue on the commercialization path with the infused funding from CHS?