'GAP' awards distributed to move cutting-edge research from lab to marketplace
Researchers at Florida State University seeking to shepherd their research out of the laboratory and into the crowded commercial marketplace have a friend in the FSU Research Foundation. Since 2005, the foundation has funded a highly energetic — and competitive — grant program that supports those researchers and their extraordinary efforts.
The Grant Assistance Program, or GAP, awards those who can most clearly identify the commercial feasibility of a process, product, license or start-up company that they believe will grow from their endeavors with a commercial partner.
The GAP awards are given out twice yearly. The four projects that earned GAP funding during the most recent awards cycle (Spring 2011) are:
All GAP award recipients will be assigned a team of mentors composed of local business leaders. The groups will meet four times a year to provide expertise and assistance with product development.
"One of the most important contributions that large research universities can make is to nurture the scientific and technological expertise that our society depends on to generate commercially viable breakthroughs in medicine, computer technology, energy generation and so many other areas," said Kirby Kemper, Florida State's vice president for Research. "With this new round of GAP awards, we are able to support researchers who may be on the brink of bringing research break-throughs to market."
For more information about the GAP Program at Florida State University, visit www.techtransfer.fsu.edu or contact John Fraser, director of the Office of Intellectual Property Development and Commercialization, at (850) 644-8637 or jfraser@techtransfer.fsu.edu.
"With this new round of GAP awards, we are able to support researchers who may be on the brink of bringing research break-throughs to market."
Kirby Kemper
Florida State's vice president for Research