ART: Facilitating Impactful New Entrepreneurs to Accelerate Research Translation (FINE ART)

The focus of this project is to identify, foster relationships with, and facilitate the development of emerging entrepreneurs to increase the capacity of the University of Massachusetts Amherst to realize the translational impacts of its well-developed basic research enterprise. The expected outcome is to create a sustainable innovation engine to prepare students and faculty to contribute to the innovation economy, shorten timelines between ideation and de-risked enterprises ready for significant seed-round and venture capitalization, and establish enterprises that embrace DEI and develop technologies that address important societal needs. The project will equip diverse groups of scientists and engineers from undergraduates to senior faculty with skills to extend research excellence towards impactful translational outcomes. To develop such translational skills faculty, postdoctoral, and student researchers will be embedded in a network of ART (Accelerating Research Translation) Ambassadors who will serve as role models, peer mentors and advocates for societally impactful translational research, trained and supported to develop both technical and non-technical or ‘soft’ translational research skills, and provided with resources, including microgrants and seed grants, to support and accelerate specific translational research milestones. The ART project team will manage an umbrella organization to serve as 1) an enabler of interdisciplinary teamwork across traditional ‘silos’, 2) facilitator of new ‘teachers’ in the form of industry leaders/serial entrepreneurs, 3) a home and resource for translational intellectual development, 4) manage Seed Translational Research Projects (STRPs) to accelerate specific technology development projects and 5) establish a specific DEI sub-team that engages with all other ART working groups. The project team will also collaborate with external partners and other ART sites to develop best practices for an innovation ecosystem across the often-neglected region of Western Massachusetts. This project will unlock the translational impacts of the strong basic research enterprise at UMass Amherst. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.