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Accelerating Commercialization & Tech Transfer

Empowering innovators to accelerate biomedical commercialization through education, mentorship, and business consultation.

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Accelerating Commercialization & Tech Transfer

Empowering innovators to accelerate biomedical commercialization through education, mentorship, and business consultation.  

Learn More

The Ascend 2.0 difference

Entrepreneurial Training

ASCEND 2.0 provides resources, advising, and mentoring to aid in the translation of promising innovations from academia to the market.

Mentoring

Mentors can help first-time entrepreneurs navigate the complex commercialization process and ASCEND can help you find a good match.

Technology Development

Funding for biomedical technologies for preclinical development can be difficult to identify and difficult to obtain, but ASCEND will help you navigate this process.

Entrepreneurial Resource Database

Resources from across the United States have been compiled into this searchable database.

Resources are available to every stage of technology development.

Search the Database

LATEST NEWS

Alaska Federal And State Technology Partnership Program

Wednesday, June 14, 2023
Equity Free Funding for Alaska Innovators: America's Seed Fund is coordinated by the Small Business Administration and funded through 11 participating federal agencies that fund innovations through the SBIR/STTR programs.Alaska FAST. Alaska FAST, federal and state technology partnership program, was created to increase the number of America’s Seed Fund SBIR/STTR…

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL: New Mexico scientists have formed nearly 150 bioscience startups in just the past 10 years. The rest of the country is starting to notice.

Monday, January 16, 2023
New Mexico’s startup economy is thriving, thanks in good part to a spate of fresh bioscience companies that are working to turn innovative technologies into new products and services. In fact, the bioscience sector has dominated the startup landscape in recent years, with more patents issued to New Mexico innovators…

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL: New jobs, bigger facilities, local support: New Mexico’s bioscience industry is alive and kicking

Monday, January 16, 2023
Pharmaceutical research, development and manufacturing company Curia broke ground this fall on a $100 million expansion of its Albuquerque operations, potentially adding nearly 300 new local jobs to its current workforce. It’s the second major expansion here since 2018 by the biotech company, which already employs about 400 people at…
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Take your technology to market

Business advising for ASCEND innovators and their technologies is available to researchers at all of the ASCEND partner institutions. Advising will include a technology review, assignment of a technology readiness level, suggested next steps, and ASCEND resources that can help move the technology forward.

Get Started Today!

Upcoming Events

Thursday, June 22, 2023

INPERSON: Scale Up NM: SEED and Series A

Albuquerque, NM
More info + Registration

Thursday, June 22, 2023

Virtual Scale Up NM: SEED and Series A

VIRTUAL
More info + Registration

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Montana Innovation Partnership: Identifying SBIR/STTR Topics

VIRTUAL
More info + Registration

testimonials

The grant will help accelerate and expand educational programs in translational medicine and career development in health care and pharmaceutical industries across Montana and the Mountain West Region.

Jay Evans, PhDASCEND Academic Lead
University of Montana 

This is a significant opportunity for small businesses, academia, and the federal government to partner in two critical areas: boosting high-tech innovation and tackling biomedical research needs.

Jon R. Lorsch, Ph.D. NIGMS Director

The goal is to educate faculty within the various institutions on how to commercialize their research, including startup funding and finding business partners.

Eric Prossnitz, PhD UNM’s principal investigator

The Ascend 2.0 Program gave me an opportunity to develop a pitch to showcase our technology. By working with the Ascend team and mentors I was able to take the next step towards bringing our life saving technology to the clinic. Thank you Ascend!

Kelly Drew, PhDCEO of BeCool Pharmaceutics
University of Alaska Fairbanks 

[The ASCEND Team] met with me weekly, answering questions I had about the process of starting up, what is necessary and what is not, and how to proceed. During these meetings, we developed a terrific side deck for use at the BIO International Conference, and one for a MicroGrant pitch sponsored by ASCEND. Being a part of the cohort was a great help to me during this difficult and sometimes confusing time as I start my biotech business. 

Elizabeth Corbin, PhD CEO of Optima Labs 
Montana State University 

We are extremely grateful for being part of the ASCEND Business Cohort program. It has been an extremely productive and eye-opening experience for us as going through this program gave us the knowledge, tools, and training that we needed to enable us to pitch our technology to large pharmaceutical companies. The ASCEND program is the starting point to help us develop CNS Curative Technologies LLC and has opened the door to participate in other NIH-funded programs.

Ruben Dagda, PhDCEO of CNS Curative Technologies, LLC
University of Nevada Reno 
ASCEND 2.0

Funds for the Ascend2.0 Program were made possible by a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) award (Funding Opportunity Number: RFA-GM-22-001 | GRANT13521394) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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