Innovation Investments

Several University programs provide funding and guidance to help move your technology beyond the lab and toward the market.

MIN-Corps

Minnesota Innovation Corps, or MIN-Corps, aims to increase technology commercialization capabilities and activities across the University.

The program, funded by the National Science Foundation, offers a variety of short-term bootcamps and workshops for researchers looking to bring their discoveries to market.

MIN-Corps provides:

• Innovation commercialization bootcamps
• Value proposition design workshops
• Emerging opportunities forums
• Strategy clinics

The program also offers the STARTUP: Customer Development and Testing course, which helps undergraduate and graduate student inventors take the first steps toward commercializing their discoveries. Course participants test business model assumptions through meetings with potential customers and partners and receive recurring feedback from instructors and mentors.

MN-REACH

MN-REACH, supported by the National Institutes of Health, aims to improve health care by fostering the development and application of medical technology and pharmaceuticals.

The program was established as one of three NIH Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hubs to help innovators in several key aspects of tech transfer:

• Learning how to develop a product that will benefit the society's health, well-being and economy
• Establishing partnerships within and beyond the University
• Strengthening existing alliances between stakeholders across sectors
• Creating cultural and systemic changes to rapidly turn breakthrough innovations into viable products

MN-REACH provides:

• Funding of up to $125,000 per project
• Skills development in understanding how to reach a desired patient population
• Coaching to identify an unmet medical need and a path towards clinical application
• Introductions to experts and consultants