Since 1982, historically Black Florida A&M University in Tallahassee has partnered with nearby Florida State University to operate a joint College of Engineering. Now the college is establishing the Technology Commercialization Accelerator Program in an effort to commercialize university research.
The program invites faculty inventors to form a team of postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and a mentor from the business community that will participate in a seven-week exercise to determine if a particular invention is marketable. Five teams have been accepted into the first cohort of the program. Their inventions include more efficient solar cells, biotechnology tests to improve food safety, more efficient sail designs, software for autonomous vehicles, and devices to produce electric power more efficiently.
Reis Alsberry, director of technology transfer at Florida A&M University stated that he is “looking forward to helping FAMU and FSU researchers bridge the gap between making their laboratory discoveries and having a marketplace presence for their innovations. This is exactly the kind of tool we can use to make that happen for the economic benefit of both universities and the Tallahassee area as a whole.”
