Sixty-one teams have been accepted into, and are now competing in, the Neuro Startup Challenge, a new collaboration established by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with The Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI) and Heritage Provider Network, Inc.

Start-up companies are instrumental in bringing the fruits of scientific research to market. Recognizing an opportunity to bring entrepreneurial minds to bear on the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, the Avon Foundation for Women partnered with NCI and the Center for Advancing Innovation to launch the Breast Cancer Startup Challenge.

Ten teams of business, legal, medical/scientific, engineering, and computer science students and seasoned entrepreneurs won the Business Plan Phase of the Breast Cancer Start-up Challenge. Selected from an original field of 200 teams, these winners, plus two teams of finalists, will push forward to commercialize breast cancer–related inventions developed by inventors at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and at an Avon Foundation–funded lab at Clemson University.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), led by the Technology Transfer Center (TTC),  the Avon Foundation, and The Center for Advancing Innovation have partnered to create a “first-of-a-kind” Breast Cancer Start-up Challenge.

As the fall and winter seasons progress, you may be attending more scientific conferences, where you may find a number of opportunities for research collaborations. To assist your lab in reaching its research goals through collaborations, the staff of the National Cancer Institute Technology Transfer Center can guide you through a tool box of agreements you may need for protecting your intellectual property and effectively managing your collaboration.