Workshop: Bringing Innovation to Market; Oct. 26-27, 2006 in Omaha, NE and Nov. 16-17, 2006 in Manhattan, NY

The Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Enterprise Forum, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This MIT Enterprise Forum (MIT EF) workshop series "Bringing Innovation to Market" will focus on bringing NSF Small Business Innovation Research/ Small Technology Transfer Research (SBIR/STTR), Phase I and Phase II grantees together with local enterprise resources in several locations throughout the country. One objective is to provide commercialization assistance to grantees of the NSF's SBIR/STTR programs and seed local systems with connections to NSF for broader participation. Another objective of the workshops is to provide insight into how the NSF and MIT EF might partner to support the commercialization efforts of NSF grantees beyond the initial workshop series. Current Phase I and Phase II grantees will participate and speakers from the venture industry as well as technology officers from potential strategic partners will convey "lessons learned" and best practices to increase commercialization success. After the workshop is complete, leaders from the community will be more experienced with the NSF SBIR/STTR program and companies will walk away with rich contacts with future business development potential. The NSF's SBIR program makes approximately $100mm in SBIR grants on an annual basis and maintaining and improving commercialization of these efforts is considered a strategic thrust for the effort moving forward. By extending entrepreneurial ecosystems, MIT EF wishes to support and maximize the commercialization prospects of NSF's SBIR grantees. Situating NSF SBIR grantees within the MIT EF's entrepreneurial ecosystem would serve both organizations' objectives. It would enhance MIT EF's objective of extending MIT's entrepreneurial ecosystem beyond the MIT community, by incorporating into the ecosystem companies with innovative technologies that are not necessarily MIT companies. And it would serve the NSF's objective of improving the commercialization prospects of its SBIR grantees, by situating the grantees in an existing and world-class entrepreneurial ecosystem that can provide the grantees with considerable resources that are crucial to enhance their commercialization success (access to entrepreneurs, clients, angels, and venture capitalists, and strategic partners for example).