The Mountain West IDeA state universities and their affiliated Technology Transfer Offices provide the framework for effective communication and outreach to build entrepreneurial cultures throughout this region. Through collaboration, we have created the ASCEND solution to accelerate development of commercialization activities and to increase SBIR/STTR applications and funding. This catalyst of entrepreneurial awareness will ensure commercialization-boosting programing and practices beyond the grant cycle.
Strategic Partners
UNM Anderson School of Management
The Anderson School of Management at UNM offers quality undergraduate and graduate education with Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) Accreditation. Courses are offered face-to-face and online during the day, evenings and weekends. Anderson offers five graduate programs, two accelerated undergraduate to graduate programs, and 12 Graduate Management Certificates. With more than 24,000 alumni, the Anderson School of Management is a world-class business school.
University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
The UNM Health Sciences Center (HSC) provides an outstanding environment that will support the successful completion of the ASCEND2.0 goals. The UNM HSC is a fully integrated academic health center with an annual extramural research portfolio exceeding $200 million in grant funding since FY 2018. The institution's mission areas span education, research, patient care, and community outreach. The UNM HSC, located on the UNM campus in Albuquerque, NM, is the only medical school in the state (and one of only four in the western IDeA states) and provides most of the specialty medical care for NM residents. UNM HSC employs approximately 10,000 people (including 1100 faculty and 2500 students/trainees/residents). The UNM Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC), as one of only five CTSA hubs in the 24 NIH-designated Institutional Development Award (IDeA) states, provides funding to support Innovation and Commercialization Pilot awards, and hosts annual Health Hackathon and BioVenture Networking events, with the goal of stimulating entrepreneurship and commercialization of UNM discoveries in the biomedical sciences. HSC faculty disclose ~50 inventions annually and receive 30-40 patents. These technologies result in the creation of multiple new startups per year, many involving the NMSUF.
Arrowhead Center at NMSU
One of Arrowhead Center’s primary objectives is to provide education and experiences to students in New Mexico and the Border-plex. Arrowhead Center works with students from kindergarten through university, fostering an entrepreneurial mindset and providing resources and tools to practice innovative thinking and explore new venture creation. They are also centered around business creation and growth. Arrowhead Center provides resources to entrepreneurs and small businesses across southern New Mexico, helping ventures to launch and grow. Through Arrowhead Centers programs, NMSU’s researchers and creators develop innovative, impactful work in diverse disciplines. The Office of Intellectual Property and Tech Commercialization strives to ensure the work of NMSU visionaries have the chance to reach the broadest possible off-campus markets, user populations, and beneficiaries. Arrowhead Center works with partners on and off-campus to advance innovation, commercialization, and entrepreneurship to position the region’s economy for productive, sustainable growth.
UNM Rainforest Innovations
Formerly known as STC.UNM and Science & Technology Corporation @ UNM, Rainforest Innovations is a nonprofit corporation formed and owned entirely by the University of New Mexico Board of Regents (UNM). They are a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation with an independent board of directors on which PI Prossnitz serves. Located at the Lobo Rainforest Building in the heart of the Innovation District in Albuquerque, New Mexico, UNM Rainforest Innovations has proximity to research and development and laboratory facilities and other technology[1]based companies, many of which are the creation of UNM Rainforest Innovations. The mission is to foster a “Rainforest in the Desert”. UNM Rainforest Innovations nurtures innovation and catalyzes economic development. Their vision is to play a vital role in New Mexico economic development and to be an innovator in technology commercialization, regionally, nationally, and worldwide.
This Technology Transfer Accelerator for the Mountain West IDeA States was 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)