Do you have a science-based technology or idea that might be the basis of a new start-up business in St. Louis? Could you use initial funding and expert advice to prove your innovation further and to help secure private funding for a new business?
If so, the St. Louis i6 Award for Commercialization could be just what you need. It’s a new program, announced on Dec. 21, to advance ideas for successful start-up companies. Applications come out in mid-January.
The purpose of the i6 Award is to create a “more robust pipeline of new bioscience ventures” in St. Louis, said program representatives. And the ideal end result is to grow these ventures into significant employers.
The i6 award was designed through a regional consortium consisting of the City of St. Louis, St. Louis County, the BioGenerator, and major research institutions, including the Danforth Center, Saint Louis University, University of Missouri-St. Louis and Washington University.
BioGenerator, a local nonprofit, will lead the project’s implementation.
“The new program is a potential vehicle to engage early-stage minority entrepreneurs,” said Benjamin R. Johnson of the Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences. It could even potentially recruit minority entrepreneurs to St. Louis, he said.
The two-year project will include two rounds of a three-phase competitive cycle. The project will produce four to five viable new bioscience ventures during each cycle.
Candidates for funding include:
- Technologies or business concepts, including service-based companies, from universities or other research institutions, entrepreneurs or individualsÂ
- In the broadly defined areas of bioscience (including but not limited to: human health therapies, diagnostics and devices, plant science, bio- & renewable energy, health care/bioscience service companies, and animal health)Â
Idea or entrepreneur may be from outside of the St. Louis region. Project must have a high likelihood of ultimately becoming a fundable startup company in the St. Louis region.
Exclusion criteria:
- Entities that have received private investment of greater than $50,000, Phase I SBIR/STTR, or any similar company funding exceeding $50,000Â
- Funded companies located outside of the greater St. Louis regionÂ
- Concepts that do not meet the overall project mission of regional high-tech job creation.Â
Funding parameters:
- $25,000-$150,000 per funded projectÂ
- Milestone-based tranches.Â
In Phase A, the project will solicit applications and then narrow the field to approximately 15 candidates. The candidates will be those “best positioned for commercialization by thoroughly reviewing the scientific underpinning of each innovation, projecting the commercial market, and anticipating the hurdles to new venture formation,” according to a press release from BioGenerator.
In Phase B, project leaders will narrow the field further to six to eight innovations. The project leaders will help to recruit entrepreneurial “Innovation Champions” to develop the research and commercialization action plans necessary to advance the individual technologies. The most promising innovations will then be selected for funding in Phase C.
During Phase C, project leaders will trigger funding and execution of detailed action plans for each innovation. These actions plans will dictate the market assessments, lab experiments, and/or prototype development necessary to meet discrete milestones for advancing the innovation to the point that it is a strong candidate for funding by third-party sources (investors, life science companies, commercial granting agencies).
“The project will increase capacity among the region’s entrepreneurs, universities, and bioscience support organizations to commercialize promising bioscience research,” said Charlie Bolten, a principal at the BioGenerator.
For more information, visit http://www.biogenerator.org/i6 or contact Bolten at cbolten@biogenerator.org or 314-932-4037 x309.
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