Research Innovation Group

The Research Innovation Group at Saint Louis University strives to be fast, efficient, and helpful when serving community members. Let us know how we can best support you as you go pursue Truth. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you need further assistance.

• Understand my obligations to disclose inventions and innovations
• Determine what type of agreement I need
• Download intellectual property disclosure form
• Download material transfer agreement (MTA) intake form
• Download license agreement distribution form
• Learn about the technology transfer process
• Learn about the various options for increasing the dissemination and adoption of my research discoveries.

The Research Innovation Group at Saint Louis University offers support and encouragement to student entrepreneurship, innovation, and research excellence in a variety of ways. All current students are very welcome to contact us if you have any questions.

• Learn about graduate student obligations to disclose intellectual property
• Find out if I have an obligation to disclose intellectual property as an undergraduate student
• Inquire about student worker positions with the Research Innovation Group
• Learn about the Chaifetz Center for Entrepreneurship
• Learn about entrepreneurship degree programs in the Chaifetz School of Business

MedLaunch

MEDLaunch is a non-profit biomedical and entrepreneurship incubator partnering with Saint Louis University and other organizations in the Saint Louis area. The goal of MedLaunch is to improve the standard of healthcare through the engineering and design of creative solutions while also fostering a community of entrepreneurship and collaboration at Saint Louis University.

Visit the MedLaunch Website

The Research Innovation Group at Saint Louis University is committed to leveraging our research and innovation assets for the benefit of our community. We strive to generate real impact in tackling social and scientific challenges facing our society through partnerships and programs.

• Talk to someone about sponsoring research at Saint Louis University
• Collaborate with SLU faculty

The September 2017 Reinventing Research Commercialization Conference

The Research Innovation Group is committed to developing and implementing new approaches to technology transfer. It knows these will be needed to bring transformative discoveries resulting from university research more quickly and effectively to market. To this end, in September 2017, the Research Innovation Group brought together national leaders in technology transfer, regional innovators, entrepreneurs, business managers and advisors at the "Reinventing Research Commercialization Conference" to participate in this reinvention process.

The presentations from this conference are available below.

Saint Louis University strives to be a partner of choice for university research and intellectual property commercialization. Please contact us if you would like to discuss specific technologies or other opportunities to collaborate with us.

• License a SLU intellectual property
• Sponsor research at Saint Louis University
• Collaborate with SLU on a clinical trial
• Learn about fee-based services offered to industry by SLU faculty
• Sponsor a student thesis project focused on a specific issue or opportunity
• Explore the capabilities of the Bioinformatics Laboratory
• Explore the capabilities of the Genomics Core Facility
• Explore the capabilities of the Protein Core Facility

Anyone who meets the following requirements can participate in the Technology Transfer Fellows Program:

• Individuals at least 18 years of age.
• Eligible to work in the United States (if not a student or employee of Saint Louis University).

Participation in the program is at the sole and absolute discretion of Saint Louis University.  In addition to faculty, staff, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students at Saint Louis University, non-SLU affiliated individuals may also participate in the program. 
 
Participation in the Technology Transfer Fellows Program is not meant to replace a person's current employment.  Individuals are expected to participate in the program in adjunct to their normal jobs. 

To apply, simply submit the online application.  We are not currently accepting applications for this program.

Yes, individuals outside of the St. Louis, Missouri area are welcomed to participate in the program. 

Technology Transfer Fellows participate in the SLUStart I-Corps program to advance the transfer of specific Saint Louis University technologies to the private sector to benefit the public interest.  This includes completing at least 15 customer discovery interviews per project and documenting a venture thesis for a technology. The primary tasks are as follows: 

• Task 1: Participate in an initial SLUStart I-Corps cohort working session.
• Task 2: Participate in a second SLUStart I-Corps cohort working session. 
• Task 3: Complete and document up to 15 customer discovery interviews and document the  venture thesis according to program standards.

For individuals who are outside of the St. Louis, Missouri area, we can make special arrangements if necessary to facilitate their participation in the SLUStart I-Corps cohort sessions (i.e., Task 1 and Task 2). 

With approval from the program manager, Technology Transfer Fellows can work on any technology for which Saint Louis University has received an intellectual property disclosure that is not less than 60 days old, has accepted assignment of the technology, and is actively pursuing commercialization.

Fellows may work on multiple projects during their participation only if invited to do so.  However, they may only work on one project at a time.  Once a participant completes a project, the program manager will evaluate the participants work and deliverables.  If the deliverables are satisfactory, the program manager may invite the fellow to perform additional work on the project or work on a different project. 

Fellows may work on projects either individually or in teams of two with the approval of the program manager.  Each person in a two-person team will be responsible for conducting at least seven (7) customer discovery interviews.

Technology Transfer Fellows receive funds disbursements at a fixed flat rate of $133 per properly documented customer discovery interview up to a maximum of 15 interviews per project.  Fellows have a limited amount of time to complete a project (typically about two months). 

After completing the SLUStart I-Corps program and conducting at least 15 customer discovery interviews for a project, the fellow can form a team (i.e., recruit a technical lead and industry mentor) and apply to the NSF I-Corps National Teams program to continue working on the project.  The fellow will serve as entrepreneurial lead for the team.  If accepted, the fellow can receive a stipend of $15,000 while participating in additional training and conducting additional customer discovery interviews.

The two working sessions (i.e., SLUStart I-Corps cohort sessions) typically last about three  to four hours each. The meeting days and times for the cohort working sessions are scheduled according the availability of the cohort participants. In many cases, cohort sessions are scheduled on weekends or weekday evenings for the convenience of participants.  
 
Additionally, fellows are expected to spend time outside of the working sessions applying what they've learned to conduct customer discovery interviews for their assigned SLU technologies. However, exactly how much time a participant spends outside of the working sessions is at their discretion and will vary from project to project. The amount of time it takes to conduct each customer discovery interview is typically about 30 minutes but this varies to some degree. This does not include the time required to recruit and schedule an interview participant.

A venture thesis is simply a concise statement outlining the value that a technology or new venture is believed to offer to a specific customer segment or user population. It has a specific structure designed to capture essential information about the technology application or solution, customer segment or user population, job-to-be-done from the perspective of the customer or user, and value proposition. To see an example of a venture thesis, visit https://www.cognitoforms.com/SaintLouisUniversityResearchInnovationGroup/SLUStartICorpsDeliverableReport.

If a fellow decides that they want to continue pursuing commercialization of the technology on their own once they've completed their project, they are welcomed to negotiate a license for the technology.