Kentucky Commercialization Ventures (KCV)

The idea that universities are the hubs of innovation ecosystems has become quintessential in knowledge economy thought leadership, and university-centric commercialization has been shown to have incredible bearing on economic development. The impact of these principles becomes more apparent and more profound in rural and other regions that don’t have environments rich in corporate R&D, innovation management talent and capital. The Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development has taken note of this dynamic, and desires to invest in the state’s resources for university-centric commercialization. The timing for this recognition and initiative is based on a number of key factors evidencing momentum and an opportunity for Kentucky to be a commercialization leader in the region: • The Commonwealth’s two research-intensive universities, the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky are poised to take a leadership role in working with the KY CED to drive commercialization across the Commonwealth. • The University of Kentucky has recently invested substantially in its Office of Technology Commercialization, improving its commercialization capabilities and output drastically to become a regional leader. • The University of Louisville has been traditionally the most steeped in commercialization and entrepreneurship culture and has been awarded multiple translational research grants in recent years, including the Coulter Translational Partnership, NIH REACH, and NSF AWARE. • The University of Kentucky and Eastern Kentucky University formed a commercialization partnership in September 2017, evidencing a culture shift in university partnering in the Commonwealth around commercialization. • The University of Kentucky and University of Louisville recently led a partnership with Eastern Kentucky University, Western Kentucky University, Murray St., Morehead St. University, and Northern Kentucky University to win the first ever NIGMS Biomedical Technology Accelerator Hub grant for the Southeast IDeA (Institutional Development Award program) states, making Kentucky an upcoming regional hub and leader for biomedical technology acceleration (starts September 1, 2018). • The University of Kentucky recently led a 25-university partnership across the Midwest and Southeast to build and launch the Executives-on-Roster (XOR) program for matching entrepreneurs to university startups, further evidencing Kentucky’s emergence as a regional leader in this field. • Eastern Kentucky University, Northern Kentucky University and Western Kentucky University have all recently made leadership changes and resource investments that will likely result in improved commercialization culture and increased commercialization activity. • Murray State University (TSM) and Morehead State University (Space Science) have research programs that are leaders in their field and aligned with state economic development missions. These programs and others at these and other institutions are poised for increased opportunity to the university and state if resourced to improve engagement with industry. • Kentucky Community & Technical College System offers entrepreneurship and business administration certificates and recently developed a Small Business Entrepreneurship Center at JCTC to prepare new business owners, and may offer facilities related thereto around the state to support local Kentucky Commercialization Ventures “KCV” efforts.