PROJECT SPONSORS
Innovation Scholars teams analyze exciting, emerging technologies in development and provide recommendations that shape the next steps in the technology transfer process.
Whether it’s working with the Mayo Clinic, NASA or emerging biomedical and healthcare companies, Innovation Scholars students, faculty and staff are driven to help project sponsors uncover and understand business opportunities. Our teams of multidisciplinary undergraduate students led by a graduate MBA student deliver well-researched and action-oriented recommendations, often in the face of ambiguity. Our projects range from technology and invention assessment to market analysis and value proposition identification – no matter the sponsor or scope, students in the program bring an unbiased perspective and focused effort to creatively meet business challenges.
Over the past 20 years, students in the Innovation Scholars program have successfully completed 207 projects and have consistently met or exceeded expectations of project sponsors.
Contact innovationscholars@mnprivatecolleges.org to explore project sponsorship.
Project Timing & Fees
IS projects begin in the fall semester of the school year (October) and are completed by late February. The planning cycle for projects begins in the summer. Sponsors are asked to contribute $5,000 per project. A sliding fee scale is available for pre-revenue companies. Additional project funding is provided by the participating colleges and Innovation Scholars.
Roles & Responsibilities
The success of IS projects is enabled by sponsor involvement. For all projects, sponsors must identify a primary contact who will participate in the project kick-off, provide input to the team on project scope and deliverables, participate in a midpoint check-in, and attend the final presentation.
The graduate MBA student serves as the team leader and primary point of contact for the project sponsor. Each undergraduate team member is expected to contribute approximately 100-150 hours to the project over 16 weeks. Each team is supported by experienced faculty mentors who, together with IS staff, ensure the overall quality of the work.
Sponsor Confidentiality
Innovation Scholars respects sponsor confidentiality and sets clear expectations with all participants. Students, faculty mentors and IS staff sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) from project sponsors. At the completion of each project, deliverables and associated data are transferred to the sponsor.
Contact innovationscholars@mnprivatecolleges.org to explore project sponsorship.
Previous Project Sponsors
Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated not-for-profit group practice of medicine in the world. Throughout Mayo, physicians, scientists and educators are deeply engaged in medical science and innovative discovery.
Minnesota is home to a unique biomedical and healthcare ecosystem. The state is considered an incubator for healthcare innovation and boasts a great concentration of leaders in the medical device, diagnostic, biopharmaceutical, and digital health industries.
NASA explores the unknown in air and space, innovates for the benefit of humanity, and inspires the world through discovery. Biomedical innovation is generated from new scientific knowledge and specialized equipment needed to live in and conduct research in space.
Anteris Technologies
B. Vell, Inc.
Cantata Health Solutions, LLC
Celista Pharmaceuticals, LLC
Cryosa, Inc.
Collaborating Docs
Cytotheryx, Inc.
DiaspoCare
Egg Medical, Inc.
EmSTOP, Inc.
Epiblock
HealtheMed, Inc.
Hemostatix, LLC
Hinckley Medical, LLC
InterShunt Technologies, Inc.
Isola Therapeutics, Inc.
Male Contraceptive Initiative
MarPam Pharma, LLC
Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation
mySHO
NASA
NephroCor Medical, Inc.
Neurotype, Inc.
Newronika, S.p.A.
NPX Medical, Inc.
SentryDX
Stimdia Medical, Inc.
TheraTec
TripleTree Capital Partners
VentureMed Group, Inc.
Visana Health, Inc.
YourSteps Health, Inc.
“I like that the teams come in with fresh eyes and sometimes show us development angles and market opportunities that we wouldn’t have otherwise seen. Third party review and evaluation of technology has provided valuable insight into commercialization strategies.”
– MAYO LICENSING MANAGER
In the words of Geoffrey Nicholson, father of the Post-It note,
“Money transforms research into knowledge. Tech transfer transforms knowledge into money.”
Above: NASA Technology Transfer officers with IS team