The iBridge Network provides the research community an additional channel through which to disseminate discoveries, research methods, and findings.

On the opening day of the Advancing Innovation and Entrepreneurship conference, the Kauffman Foundation unveiled its iBridge program – a sort of matchmaking service in the field of technology transfer. The conference, cosponsored by the Technology Transfer Society, gathered more than 175 academics, tech transfer officials and economic development professionals to improve the relationship between researchers and entrepreneurs.

While the total number of innovations moving from university laboratories to the marketplace has risen considerably over the last 25 years, they are concentrated in only a handful of research institutions. Meanwhile, a great deal of promising research is either overlooked or bottle-necked in overburdened technology transfer offices throughout the U.S. iBridge is a web-based application that allows researchers to post their discoveries in an online database designed to increase awareness of that research and facilitate direct exchanges with entrepreneurs who can move those ideas into practical use. The expectation is that this will lead to an increased number of entrepreneurial ventures throughout the country.

iBridge will be piloted by a select group of universities, including Washington University in St. Louis, University of North Carolina, Cornell University, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, and the University of Kansas. It is expected that a total of seven U.S. universities will participate in the initial pilot in the coming months.

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The iBridge Network provides the research community an additional channel through which to disseminate discoveries, research methods, and findings. The iBridge Network encourages more open and efficient access to research by interested parties.

By increasing awareness of existing research and facilitating exchanges among those who are conducting and/or using the research, the iBridge Network also aims to expand the number and scope of collaborative relationships. Studies indicate that such relationships are a critical component in advancing new discoveries and may lead to even more ideas and inventions, in turn generating greater innovation potential and collectively fueling entrepreneurial ventures around the country.

http://www.innovationbridge.org