The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
UConn pursues top data institute
The University of Connecticut is aiming to increase commercialization of research, support startups and increase entrepreneurship under a plan that includes a multimillion dollar faculty recruitment effort and new programs at the Stamford campus.
In a draft strategic plan and a proposal for an “Academic Entrepreneurship” initiative, both obtained through a public records request, officials outlined their strategies to turn UConn into a leading institution in “technological innovation and entrepreneurship for economic and social benefit.”
The university wants to pursue opportunities “in areas like Biomedical, Digitalization, Materials, AgBio, Software, and Industry 4.0,” and specifically envisions growth in data science, where UConn sees a chance “to become a research leader and a commercialization power in
this space.”
It’s fueled by a charge from the state legislature to recruit and hire faculty focused on commercialization or on “societal needs,” to build “a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship” at all UConn campuses and to facilitate “entrepreneurial relationships” with other colleges and universities.
Officials haven’t released any budget details on the plan, which Vice President for Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Radenka Maric said is still being finalized. Some of it can be achieved through prioritization of existing resources and efforts, she said, while others will require substantial financial commitments from a variety of sources.
The university currently budgets about $2.9 million annually for technology transfer and venture development, through UConn funds and federal research dollars, in addition to an entrepreneurship center funded by a private, endowed donation.
“It is imperative that UConn is part of Connecticut’s strategy for the next decade by leveraging its resources and successes to help drive the state forward as a leading innovation hub,” officials said in the document. Success will be measured by factors including number of faculty involved in commercialization, how many jobs are created by UConn companies, how many small businesses grow with support from UConn, and how many students stay in the state after graduation due to initiatives in the plan.
“Our goal is really to grow the startups in Connecticut, to help our students and faculty to be entrepreneurial but also to help move our economy forward,” Maric said at the first meeting of the Board of Trustees’ Research, Entrepreneurship and
Innovation Committee.
Growth in Stamford
The strategic plan calls for new opportunities at UConn Stamford and for more movement of students between the flagship in Storrs and the Fairfield County campus.
Because of the state’s “unusually high density of large corporations,” officials propose a “worldleading data science institute in Stamford seeded with industryfriendly and entrepreneuriallyminded faculty.”
They plan to offer a “unique program that sends UConn students from Storrs to complete their degree in Stamford, with a builtin coop experiential learning requirement.”
UConn launched an internship program for students in Stamford last year, and according to the new plan, the school hopes to have 100 students interning at startups there annually.
The plan also calls for a Stamford Technology Incubation Program with UConn and nonUConn startups, similar to the one already operating in Storrs and Farmington.
Maric said in an interview that the school is making efforts to expand its work in Hartford as well, specifically in medical technology, in an effort to work with companies across the state.
Another of UConn’s objectives is to have student entrepreneurship hubs on all its campuses.
The plan calls for increasing entrepreneurship opportunities for students by adding support for studentcreated companies and launching more internship opportunities for students. Academic and extracurricular programs for students are already underway, and the plan suggests exploring “establishment of a studentmanaged fund in seedstage venture development.”
They envision having graduate students in business working with student and faculty entrepreneurs in a “forcredit experiential education class.”
Part of the innovation effort will include three tiers of new hires, outlined at the board committee meeting last week by Vice Provost for Academic Affairs John Volin.
UConn wants to hire 10 new “innovation professors” in life sciences fields, and has requested $10 million over five years from the Connecticut Biosciences Fund, which is administered by the quasipublic Connecticut Innovations. The university would match the CBIF funding with another $10 million, according to the proposal.
Volin described those hires as “individual faculty with excellence in translational research, communityengaged scholarship, significant entrepreneurship efforts or exceptional applied research.” Some of them will likely come from “nontraditional” backgrounds, rather than academic career trajectories, he said.
The proposal says funding would be used to hire a search firm to recruit professors, to pay annual $200,000 salaries to each Innovation Professor, cover fringe costs and provide approximately $1 million to each professor for labs, equipment and other needs. The initiative would also include entrepreneurial labs in the UConn School of Medicine.
The plan was presented to the CBIF Advisory Committee on Nov. 13 and is still under consideration, Maric said.