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Pre Seed Workshop

 

 

Next Pre Seed workshops:

 

March 5th, 12th (New York City)- This is a joint workshop with Columbia University (Center for Advanced Information Management) and Cornell Weill Medical School Technology Transfer Office. APPLICATION FORM NYC

 

March 28th, April 4th (Ithaca) APPLICATION FORM ITHACA

Overview

Cornell has a long history of working with campus inventors to commercialize technology and start new companies. However, there is a growing "pre-seed" gap for inventions coming from universities into the marketplace.

Desen Zheng, from the Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y., talks about his research to other members of his team in one of the Pre-Seed Workshop breakout sessions.

Cornell has adopted a program entitled the "Pre-Seed Workshop" put together by management and venture consultants to address the very needs of pre-seed ideas.

The Pre-seed Workshop (PSW) is a systematic approach to help researchers evaluate the commercialization potential of an invention and provide essential information from the venture capital and business community for launching a start-up company.

PSW was designed to take a raw idea from a university lab or other source and investigate its marketplace viability using a preliminary commercialization plan developed in the workshop. Additionally, PSW includes activities to help researchers decide if the idea should move forward as a start-up company and test the start-up fortitude of the researchers themselves.

 

Results to Date as of December 2007:


    • -        Have held six workshops at Cornell (Ithaca and Geneva) to date. 

      -        Thirty technology teams have participated: 

      o      15/30 based on Cornell owned technology

      o      17/30 have resulted in start-up companies that have received outside funding and/or are generating revenue from sales (8/17 Cornell owned technologies)

      o      10/30 have resulted in potential start-up companies that are being organized and looking for funding (6/10 Cornell owned technologies)

      o      3/30 resulted in decisions not to go forward with commercialization at this time (1/3 Cornell owned technology)

      -        JGSM students participate for credit on independent study.

      -        PSW are organized and administered by the Institute for Biotechnology and Life Science Technologies through the NYS Center for Life Science Enterprise

      -        University co-sponsors include CCMR, CCTEC, EShip@Cornell, NYSAES, Johnson School

      -        External Sponsors include NYSERDA, AM&T, High Tech Rochester, Hobart & Williams Smith Colleges (Geneva workshops), NYSTAR, the law firm Jaeckle, Fleischman & Mugel, LLP -        PSW was developed by Mark Wilson of Initiatives Consulting and Judy Albers of JJA Consulting.

      -        Coaches and team members actually contribute their time to this Workshop and the average workshop will involve these professionals and grad students for at least 650 hours of in-kind assistance

 

The Pre Seed Process

Idea Team

Sample Schedule

 

 

Information:     

John Trachtenberg, Director, Business Development

Center for Life Science Enterprise

Ph: 607.254.4877

Fax: 607.254.6379

jt387@cornell.edu

 

Coordinated by Cornell's NYSTAR Center for Life Science Enterprise.