Friday, April 4, 2025
4/4/2025
IDeA Entrepreneurship Training and Community Development - Summary Scientists are motivated by the notion that their work could improve or save lives; however, moving medical innovations from bench to bedside is challenging. Biomedical entrepreneurship can be a career choice but is also key to translating these investments in medical research by the commercialization of innovative ideas. To succeed at this translation, a whole new set of skills are required, such as; understanding the barriers to adoption in the complex healthcare market, business plan development, regulatory requirements, securing the financial resources, and protection of intellectual property. Training in biomedical entrepreneurship is limited in the Institutional Development Award program (IDeA)-eligible states. We posit that innovative training opportunities that close this foundational knowledge and skills gap will speed the commercialization of biomedical inventions and career progression. To address this need and education gap we established the IDeA-Entrepreneurship (I-Trep) training program. The overall goal of I-Trep is to promote entrepreneurship in biomedical research and to jump start and facilitate the transition of innovative ideas and discoveries from the laboratory or bedside into the marketplace. To date, we have engaged seven target states (VT, NH, ME, RI, DE, AK and Puerto Rico) and moved careers forward. We have trained or assisted a highly diverse group of scientists, who have raised to date $8 million in SBIR/STTR grant dollars and two I-Trep -assisted companies have now raised $20 million from private investors. I-Trep is being revamped with a next phase of development, innovation, and expansion to create an IDeA entrepreneurial ecosystem. We will now move forward to engage the entire IDeA program of 23 states plus Puerto Rico with the aims and goals for the next phase that are: 1) Promote early career training in biomedical entrepreneurship through innovative training opportunities. This will be achieved using innovative principles of active learning, we will deploy virtual and asynchronous learning opportunities, an I-Trep Studio program, and an I-Trep Fellows program. 2) Build a virtual community of practice. Mentoring of early- stage entrepreneurs will be achieved through the establishment of an online community of practice (ecosystem)- allowing members to a) connect with peer mentors, b) received one-on-one mentoring from vetted consultants, c) find internship opportunities to gain practical experience. and 3) Marketing. We will disseminate our training program by using a multifaceted approach that is grounded in best practices and innovations in communications and build the community of practice in collaboration with several NIGMS Regional Technology Transfer Hubs. I-Trep fills a unique niche through the education and training of academic scientists so that they can interact more effectively with business professionals and thus realize the successful translation of scientific discoveries to market.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).