In the wake of a recent report by the Center for an Urban Future that criticized New York City and many of its academic institutions for failing to adequately commercialize research technology (see the previous item in TTT eNews), the city’s Economic Development Corporation and the New York City Investment Fund have teamed up on an initiative to fund biomedical research that has advanced beyond the walls of academia but is not yet ready to attract private funding. The $5 million Translational Research Fund is designed to propel the work of researchers whose ideas could result in the formation of New York City companies, enabling them to move beyond the so-called “valley of death.” The fund’s first move is the creation of BioAccelerate NYC, a competition that will select up to five researchers for grants of as much as $250,000. In addition to funding, winners will receive mentoring from veteran bioscience entrepreneurs to help move projects along the commercialization pipeline. The idea is to reduce risk to investors, who will then put up the dollars needed to launch companies, says Maria Gotsch, NYCIF’s chief executive. “We’re focusing on those opportunities that are big enough that you’re going to want to set up a company that’s going to want to hire people,” she says.
VCs say it’s often difficult to assess whether a given technology has reached an appropriate point for translation to the marketplace. The fund will make those determinations easier. “It will produce information that will help decide whether projects are ready for the commercial marketplace or whether they’re still academic,” says Geoff Smith, a juror in the BioAccelerate competition and managing partner at Ascent Biomedical Ventures, which invests in medical devices, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals. Abram Goldfinger, executive director of technology transfer at NYU, says the university spins out an average of seven companies each year, but another 10 to 20 start-ups worthy of funding don’t get off the ground. “There’s a lot more technology than the currently available seed capital can move forward,” he points out. “This will be a helpful addition.”
Source: Crain’s New York Business