As a group, postdocs are underrepresented in entrepreneurial careers due to their need for business training, their lack of industrial experience, and their difficulty accessing entrepreneurial mentors and advisors. Through a grant from the National Science Foundation, the INNoVATE™ program addresses these needs.
INNoVATE™ is a unique program that offers scientific postdoctoral fellows and researchers the opportunity to develop the needed entrepreneurial skills to move innovations to the market. Focused on cultivating entrepreneurs from the more than 4800 postdocs in the state of Maryland, the INNoVATE™ program aims to train and educate today’s life scientists in the skills needed to create the high growth technology companies of tomorrow.
Moreover, INNoVATE™ is a training and development model for accelerating the translation of scientific discoveries into commercial technologies. The model can be customized by other research institutions across the country and in other parts of the world to teach their own scientists how to effectively work with business people and commercialize innovations from their own and other laboratories.
The Approach
The Program is based on a three-pronged approach:
INNoVATE™ program participants have access to experienced faculty advisors and business mentors to help guide their project from idea formulation to business execution. In addition, customized networking events and panel discussions provide program participants with the opportunity to learn from entrepreneurship experts in the community.
INNoVATE™ is funded by a National Science Foundation Innovation for Partnerships grant.
For more information on the INNoVATE™ program, email innovate@jhu.edu.
