Venture Development Program

 

The Venture Development Program of the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UT Dallas (IIE) is an important component of the university’s technology commercialization program, and serves as an initial point of contact for external firms seeking to establish relationships with the university and its faculty and researchers.

The strategic plan of The University of Texas at Dallas makes it clear that in order to be considered “one of the nation’s best public research universities and one of the great universities of the world” the university must have a significant impact on the economic development of the Metroplex, Texas and the nation.  The Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) is responsible for the policies and processes by which UT Dallas takes ideas from its laboratories and moves them into the marketplace. The IIE and the OTC have actively collaborated to implement a new paradigm under which the university will operate its technology commercialization program, foster an atmosphere of innovation and entrepreneurship, and facilitate the launch of new enterprises. 

The IIE’s Venture Development Program is a “virtual incubator” that provides an essential link in the process. Utilizing MBA student interns and faculty mentors, Venture Development assists the OTC in evaluating the commercial feasibility of UTD innovations and in creating new enterprises.  The pro-active start-up facilitation endeavors include:

• Market analysis

• Individual mentoring by experienced entrepreneurs

• Business plan development

• Business formation and organization

• Investor/industrial outreach and match-making

• Connection with potential management resources. 

 

Venture Development also seeks to maximize the probability of creating a successful company by facilitating access to IIE’s active network of advisors, investors and entrepreneurs. This network enables startups to access essential resources, including angel investors and venture capital firms, service providers, incubators such as the North Texas Enterprise Center (NTEC), STARTech Early Ventures , and governmental agencies such as the North Texas Regional Center for Innovation and Commercialization (NTXRCIC).

Venture Development’s role in the technology evaluation and commercialization process is summarized  in the OTC Process Flow chart. 

Currently, services are provided primarily to UTD faculty, researchers and graduate students seeking assistance in the commercialization of their intellectual property via the creation of a new venture or to companies that have negotiated the right to commercialize UTD-owned or developed intellectual property.

As resources and funding permit, the program will be expanded selectively to provide services to non-UT Dallas-related new ventures. For these entities, support services may also include access to faculty, researchers and graduate students with relevant expertise, resources and facilities (library, market research data bases, laboratories, equipment, etc.). These services would be provided by IIE on a fee for service basis or (in the case of technology licensing) in exchange for a modest equity participation.