The Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University is securing $5 million to $10 million to fund the first start-up companies expected to move later this winter into its new Biodesign Impact Accelerator. “We expect the first three to five start-ups will enter the Impact Accelerator by February of 2010,” says Joe Caspermeyer, a spokesperson for the Biodesign Institute. Those start-ups — to be selected from proposals now under review by the accelerator’s executive committee — will be designed to commercialize the institute’s research discoveries and technologies. The firms will have access to up to 8,000 square feet of research space at the Biodesign Institute, located on ASU’s Tempe, AZ, campus, and a 25,000-square-foot floor in nearby SkySong, the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center.
Over the accelerator’s first few years of operation, additional space will be built to house 10 to 15 companies, according to Caspermeyer. The funds now being raised will be supplemented in the future, with a goal of $25 million for infrastructure improvements and technical support. The accelerator will fund and nurture companies deemed capable of capitalizing on the institute’s innovations in personalized medicine, diagnostic systems and devices, cancer research, vaccine platforms, alternative energy solutions, bioremediation technologies, and national security initiatives.
Source: GenomeWeb