Saluki Concept Fund will benefit researchers

Saluki Times
March 16, 2011
By Tim Crosby

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Making the leap from the drawing board to the marketplace is sometimes the toughest hurdle for new technologies. A new program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale aims to help researchers meet that challenge.

The Saluki Concept Fund will provide up to $20,000 to SIUC researchers to help them nurture new technologies through the sometimes-difficult early stages. The funding will support short-term, concept-proving research that reveals the invention’s potential, helping clear the way for commercialization.

The Saluki Concept Fund is a cooperative effort between the SIUC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the University’s Technology Transfer Program. John A. Koropchak, vice chancellor for research and dean of the SIUC graduate school, said the fund will help the University carry out its missions as a research institution, as well as support the economy.

“Research universities are often called economic engines, in part because some of the research done by the faculty and students can result in new businesses and jobs based on the innovations of that research,” Koropchak said. “However, the process of converting an innovation to a business is almost always resource-limited, making this transition very challenging and often frustrating.”

Koropchak said such an approach has succeeded at other institutions and that he believes it will yield results at SIUC, as well.

“This proof-of-concept program, that has been shown to work at prominent institutions nationwide, is intended to assist this difficult stage and increase the probability that a successful business results,” he said.

SIUC faculty and staff are eligible for the funding, which can last up to one year. To apply, inventors must be listed as an inventor on the associated invention disclosure. A review committee headed by the associate vice chancellor for research and with representatives from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, the Office of Economic and Regional Development and the Technology Transfer Program will make recommendations for awards based on scientific and business factors. Final decisions are made by the vice chancellor for research.

Grant-seekers can submit applications anytime during the year.

The funding will bridge the area left by a dearth of government funding, which usually does not cover early, “concept-proving” work on new inventions. But funding new technologies at that point can often make a critical difference in their ultimate development, said Jeff Myers, senior technology transfer specialist at SIUC.

“It can be common that technologies need an incremental step to become licensed or commercialized, but can’t get funding from traditional funding sources -- the National Science Foundation or the National Institutes for Health or agencies like that,” Myers said. “Programs like these fill that gap, and they’re growing in popularity.”

For more information, visit http://www.techtransfer.siuc.edu/poc/ or call or contact Myers at jmyers@siu.edu or by calling618-453-4511.

New Saluki Concept Fund for scale-up research projects

The following appeared in the SIUC Technology Transfer December 2010 Newsletter. To read the newsletter and to subscribe for future issues, visit http://www.techtransfer.siuc.edu/signup.html. Or, visit the Saluki Concept Fund webpage.

A new fund will help Southern Illinois University Carbondale researchers and inventors make the leap from idea to commercialization.

The Saluki Concept Fund, a new venture of SIUC’s Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the Technology Transfer Program of the Office of Research Development and Administration will offer individual awards of up to $20,000 to support short-term projects designed to show that an invention has potential for commercialization licensing or as the basis for a start-up company. These projects – called proof-of-concept studies – are often needed to show potential licensees or investors that an invention, idea or technology will work in an applied setting.

Studies of this kind are normally not funded by federal, state or other traditional funding sources. The Saluki Concept Fund will fill in the gap, supporting projects of up to one year that aim to “scale-up” research or show marketing and licensing viabilities.

“Research universities like SIUC are counted on to be economic engines, in part from new companies that spin off from the patents invented there,” John A. Koropchak, vice chancellor for research and graduate dean, explained. “Getting from a patent to a business has many challenges including finding the means to construct a prototype or conduct market research. This program is intended to bridge that gap and increase the likelihood that the best ideas can be successfully developed to create new jobs in southern Illinois.”

Jeff Myers, senior technology transfer specialist at SIUC said similar programs have been successfully implemented at other research institutions, and SIUC’s program has been under consideration for some time.

“The timing is right for this program,” Myers said. “We have an increasing number of innovations that could benefit right away from this new fund.”

All SIUC faculty and staff are eligible for proof-of-concept funding, provided the applicant is listed as the inventor on the required invention disclosure. All awards are subject to the availability of funds.

Information on the fund is available from the University’s Technology Transfer Program at (618) 453-4511 or online at http://techtransfer.siuc.edu/poc/.