Tech Launch Arizona StartupHub facilitates connections for venture-ready inventors seeking qualified co-founders.
University of Arizona (UArizona) has launched a new web-based resource to connect high-tech entrepreneurs with promising inventions and startups. StartupHub matches the most promising inventions coming out of the university’s offices and laboratories with entrepreneurs outside the university who have the passion, talent, and experience to form startups to lead them forward.
StartupHub launches with its first 10 curated opportunities, ranging from a trail-ready snake-bite antivenom kit, a device to relieve carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms, to an orally-delivered treatment for a gastrointestinal disease that does not compromise the health of the gut microbiome. Site visitors can filter opportunities by industry (such as diagnostics, digital health, or medical devices) or by opportunity (such as chief executive officer, co-founder, or chief science officer).
StartupHub is the brainchild of Tech Launch Arizona (TLA), the UArizona office that commercializes inventions stemming from university R&D to create societal and economic impact. TLA built StartupHub to facilitate connections between the inventing and entrepreneurial communities. The office’s Venture Development team works with inventors and entrepreneurs to launch high-tech startups.
“Our goal is to maximize the societal impact of the world-class research taking place at UArizona,” says Bruce Burgess, TLA Director of Venture Development. “University faculty, staff, and researchers produce hundreds of inventions each year, and this website is strategized for maximum effectiveness in connecting the highest-potential inventing teams and inventions with investors, technology experts, and entrepreneurs looking for their next great business opportunity who can bring those innovations to fruition.”
To qualify for inclusion on StartupHub, inventions must not only be on the absolute cutting-edge of their field and address a clear and present market need, but they must already field a top-notch team that is technically world-class, well-prepared, and motivated to collaborate with an external entrepreneur.
To ensure the best possible matches between inventing teams and potential leaders, StartupHub provides interested parties with an easy-to-digest snapshot of key data points for each opportunity to help orient them before engaging with a team. In “meet-the-inventor” videos, inventors discuss their innovations and market opportunities and share a personal glimpse into their history and process to ensure potential leaders understand both the technical details and the inventors’ motivations and personalities.
“TLA is single-minded in its mission is to make the entirety of the UArizona innovative power Arizona available to address real-world problems through commercial pathways,” Burgess says. “StartupHub does exactly that, by curating and promoting only the best of the best and sharing opportunities our analyses show to be the right invention with the right team at the right time.”
Visit the Tech Launch Arizona StartupHub at https://techlaunch.arizona.edu/startuphub.