ART: Re-engineering Technology Transfer at the University of Wyoming

Wyoming is a rural state with population density of less than 6 per square mile. Its economy is heavily dependent on extractives, agriculture, and tourism. The University of Wyoming (UW) – the sole university and academic research institution in the state – has $139 million in research expenditures in 2022. But, by all markers, translation of research lags in comparison with peer universities. Because UW is the State’s only academic research enterprise, the creation of the Wyoming Translation Research Accelerator (WTRA) through this award represents a unique opportunity for federal investment to impact an entire state. It will transform traditional research and commercialization into a holistic accelerator of use-inspired research and development. The project will deliver benefits to under-served populations, as well as industry and community partners. Expected outcomes include an increase in industry collaborations and startups, diversification of the State’s economy, and greater preparedness of graduate students and post-doctoral students to enter industry. This ART project will catalyze University-wide change to foster and speed up the pace of research-enabled innovation. The effort is supported at the highest levels of leadership: UW’s President and VP for Research serve as co-principal investigators. This project leverages the NSF I-Corps™ Model, expanding on its principles to re-engineer the existing research and commercialization enterprise. Experiential training will be conducted, with an emphasis on graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. Seed translational research projects will be selected to help diversify and grow the Wyoming economy. WTRA will develop a market-driven approach that supplants the traditional “market push” model. Basic research will still flourish, but with an eye to societal benefits beyond scholarly publications. This project is jointly funded by the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) Directorate, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), the ADVANCE program in the EDU Directorate, BIO, and ENG Directorates. 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.