A new program at ETSU will help students and faculty members turn ideas and innovations into profitable marketplace ventures.
Dr. Michael Woodruff, ETSU vice provost for research, ETSU and other Tennessee Board of Regents institutions are teaming with organizations throughout the Volunteer State in a project designed to help “build the bridge from innovation to marketability.”
This program is made possible by a $579,000 grant from the National Science Foundation awarded to Tennessee Tech-nological University in Cookeville.
“A significant part of the mission of the universities in the Tennessee Board of Regents system is to do research that can improve the human condition. However, we have never had an organized system for commercializing the products of this research,” Woodruff said.
“Under the leadership provided from Tennessee Tech, the TBR universities successfully competed for a major NSF grant which will allow us to develop partnerships and a program that will connect the research at universities and laboratories in Tennessee with the development of new commercially viable products and services.
“An obvious outcome of this partnership would be the creation of new jobs as well as greater economic development,” he said.
Organizations joining the TBR schools in this venture include Oak Ridge National Laboratories, Tennessee Biotech-nology Association, Tennessee Technology Development Corporation and Cumberland Emerging Technologies.
Woodruff said emphasis will be placed on entrepreneurship as students, faculty and biotechnology researchers learn about the process of starting a technology business and becoming owners and operators.
New innovations will be evaluated before being accepted for the project. Students submitting ideas will work closely with technical and entrepreneurial mentors.
The TBR is the sixth largest system of higher education in the nation and is comprised of six universities, 13 two-year colleges and 26 technology centers. More than 180,000 students are enrolled in TBR institutions.

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