Effective February 9, 2018
Washington University is committed to supporting faculty efforts to pursue entrepreneurial activities including creating start-up companies, participating in SBIR/STTR projects and working with industry partners. To further the university’s commitment, two faculty members have been selected as inaugural Faculty Fellows in Entrepreneurship: Dr. Jennifer Silva at the School of Medicine and Dr. Vijay Ramani on the Danforth campus. In this role, Dr. Silva and Dr. Ramani will provide consultation on the complexities of navigating collaborations between the university and faculty start-up companies. Additional information about the new Entrepreneurship Fellows is available from the Source.
The federally funded Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs encourage domestic small business concerns to engage in research and development that has the potential for commercialization. Through a competitive awards-based program, grants are made directly to the small business concern to support the financing of cutting edge technologies. Washington University supports participation in SBIR/STTR programs by its faculty through a small business concern, as this may allow faculty and their start-ups to make rapid progress towards commercialization of important technology. To facilitate collaboration, the university has developed institutional guidelines for start-up companies to engage with the university on an SBIR or STTR project.
Please contact Melanie Roewe, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Development and Contracts, with any questions.