Project Summary I-RED Southeast XLerator Network, powered by XLerateHealth, LLC in collaboration with the University of Kentucky as the lead academic partner institution, proposes to develop a suite of experience-based entrepreneurship education products and commercialization education tools to address the needs of academic institutions and their faculty, researchers, innovators, and graduate/undergraduate students in the Southeast IDeA states region. The ultimate aim of these entrepreneurship education and training products is to foster the translation of promising biomedical discoveries and technologies from research laboratories into the creation of commercial products which both improve human health and promote economic growth. As a result, it will significantly enhance commercialization knowledge, mature the entrepreneurial ecosystem, identify more market-ready technologies and patents, see more startup entities formed, increase dilutive and non-dilutive funding to these entities, and accelerate the commercialization of biomedical and health tech innovations in the region – with the fundamental goal of positively impacting human health and patient’s lives. This team has years of experience working with academic institutions, innovators, and healthcare startups in the Southeast IDeA states region (including the previous NIGMS STTR IDeA Regional Technology Transfer Accelerator award), developing extensive entrepreneurial educational content and delivering entrepreneurial training to biomedical innovators aspiring to become entrepreneurs. Key team members possess strong and diverse backgrounds that include education and training, technology transfer, clinical practice, startup company creation, venture capital investing, building talent support systems, sales and marketing, social media, and program and product development, among other disciplines. We will create and deploy the most impactful educational products necessary to further advance the translation of biomedical technologies being developed by academic researchers to the commercial marketplace. I-RED Southeast XLerator Network will leverage its team’s experiences assessing, building, and working with a wide network of highly diverse partners across each state and territory in the Southeast IDeA states region, with a governance structure to optimize communication and ensure extensive prototype testing and validation of unique educational programs and products that will address the needs identified through gap assessment, and achieve strong engagement from our region’s innovators in those educational programs and products.

Project Narrative Through this program, I-RED Southeast XLerator Network will develop a suite of experience-based entrepreneurship education products and commercialization education tools to address the needs of academic institutions and their faculty, researchers, innovators, and graduate/undergraduate students in the Southeast IDeA states region. The ultimate aim of these entrepreneurship education and training products is to foster the translation of promising biomedical discoveries and technologies from research laboratories into the creation of commercial products which both improve human health and promote economic growth. As a result, it will significantly enhance commercialization knowledge, mature the entrepreneurial ecosystem, identify more market-ready technologies and patents, see more startup entities formed, increase dilutive and non-dilutive funding to these entities, and accelerate the commercialization of biomedical and health tech innovations in the region – with the fundamental goal of positively impacting human health and patient’s lives.