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Case Western Reserve University receives $1M state grant for technology start-up fund

The Ohio Third Frontier Commission has awarded Case Western Reserve University a $1 million grant to help faculty researchers advance and commercialize their innovations.

The new round of funding is the commission’s sixth consecutive award to CWRU since 2017, when the State of Ohio transferred administration of its Technology Validation and Start-up Fund (TVSF) to each applying university’s Technology Transfer Office (TTO).

Since the state’s 2012 launch of the TVSF program, 60 CWRU projects have received funding. The state’s investment has helped catalyze 12 startups that have collectively raised more than $135 million. Three of them have gone on to become publicly traded companies.

The $1 million TVSF grant will be used to fund projects from Case Western Reserve faculty, reviewed and chosen by an evaluation committee in a request-for-proposals process based on the state’s criteria.

“I am incredibly grateful to the State of Ohio for its continued support of our program,” said Michael Haag, TTO’s executive director for technology management and designated principal investigator for the state grant, “and to our selection committee for providing significant start-up, venture capital and industry expertise to evaluate and select projects to advance to the next level of commercialization.”

“These resources are invaluable to accelerate and fund the translation of promising technologies developed at CWRU into the marketplace through Ohio-based companies,” said Walid Jalabi, a TTO licensing manager who directs the TVSF program for CWRU. “We are grateful to the state for its continuous support to our program for many years.”

The Ohio Third Frontier initiative began in 2002; its goal was to build a statewide system that moves technology and innovation from research labs to commercial settings. The TVSF program awards grants to support technologies developed at Ohio research institutions and spin-off companies that license the technologies.

The fund focuses on driving development in biomedical/life sciences; advanced materials; sensors; energy; advanced manufacturing; and software/information technology.


For more information, contact Bill Lubinger at william.lubinger@case.edu.

This article was originally published Nov. 15, 2022.