| Office:(817) 735-5147 FAX (817) 735-5485 techtransfer@hsc.unt.edu |
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Tech Fort
Worth Acceleration Lab at UNTHSC |
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The Acceleration Lab at the
University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) was opened with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 26, 2008. Several North
Texas business and civic leaders were in attendance, including Fort Worth Mayor
Mike Moncrief, UNTHSC President Scott Ransom and,
Texas Emerging Technology Fund (ETF) Director Mark Ellison. |
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The Acceleration
Lab is a partnership between UNTHSC and TECH Fort Worth. It is
designed to promote commercialization of research by providing support for
start-up companies that are built on proprietary technologies, and that are
enrolled in the Acceleration Program at TECH Fort Worth. |
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Located in the Center for BioHealth at UNTHSC, the Acceleration Lab offers six wet
labs outfitted with lab benches, vent hoods, sinks, andother standard
fixtures. The facility also includes office and conference facilities, administrative support, and business development assistance to Acceleration Program clients. |
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Client companies will also derive the benefit of guidance from
the department of Technology Transfer and Commercialization (TT&C) and the Center for Research Management, which are located adjacent to the Acceleration
Lab. In turn, the close proximity of these companies to researchers at UNTHSC is expected to facilitate mutually beneficial interactions.
Operation of the Acceleration Lab and the associated facilities is largely supported by a 3.1 million dollar biennial
appropriation from the state legislature. The first clients of the Acceleration
Lab are CorInnova, Resonant Sensors Inc., and Sendera Discovery. Two of these companies are recipients of
ETF grants from the State of Texas |
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The buzz word surrounding the opening of the Acceleration Lab was
“opportunity”: for UNTHSC to forge collaborations between its scientists and
these companies, for TECH Fort Worth to provide superior quality resources to
its clients, for the companies to increase their chances of growth and success,
and for the city of Fort Worth, to further expand an already booming local
economy, and to build toward Mayor Moncrief’s vision
for Fort Worth as a “technological center.” |
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The buzz word surrounding the opening of the Acceleration Lab was
“opportunity”: for UNTHSC to forge collaborations between its scientists and
these companies, for TECH Fort Worth to provide superior quality resources to
its clients, for the companies to increase their chances of growth and success,
and for the city of Fort Worth, to further expand an already booming local
economy, and to build toward Mayor Moncrief’s vision
for Fort Worth as a “technological center.” Mayor Moncrief believes that with the partnership between UNTHSC and TECH Fort Worth and the
opening of the Acceleration Lab, “we have an opportunity to become a magnet for
those who have an idea, a concept, a product, a process, something that will enhance our quality of life; if not for us, for
the generations that follow”. |
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The TECH Fort Worth Acceleration
Program is the second step of a three-step program (Incubation, Acceleration,
and Launch) instituted for the development of start-up companies who are in
possession of a proprietary technology and a sound business plan. Clients of
the Acceleration Program work closely with TECH Fort Worth staff to create a
business infrastructure, build a management team, select external advisors, acquire
investments, and attain visibility in the community. Ideally, these efforts
would culminate in a product going to market. In addition to assistance with
business planning, adequate research support is a key factor contributing to
the growth of a fledgling company. To this end, UNTHSC has dedicated resources
to support these companies in its new Acceleration Lab. |
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