Overview

UAccel Quick Start offers professional development and an experiential learning opportunity to innovators who are interested in learning the best commercialization path for their solutions.

The goal of the program is to advance an innovation toward commercialization, including preparations for Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants or National Innovation Corps applications, creation of a startup, or partnering with an established company to license the technology.

UAccel Quick Start is the first phase of the two-phase program. The second phase is I-Corps.

Program Description

A two-phase program:

Phase I: UAccel Quick Start: An introduction to lean startup methods to help you select an appropriate commercialization pathway forward for your innovation. Participants must complete program requirements to graduate. 

Phase II: I-Corps: For those who have successfully graduated from UAccel Quick Start and want to continue toward startup formation, SBIR applications, or National Innovation Corps applications. This phase continues on the foundations in UAccel Quick Start and provides additional experiential entrepreneurial training. Participants must complete program requirements to graduate.

Program elements:

• One-hour cohort meetings featuring guest speakers and feedback sessions. Cohort meetings are held weekly (summer programs) and bi-weekly (fall, spring programs) via Zoom.

• Guided independent study with original Launch Blue high-quality training materials and application exercises.

• One-on-one coaching sessions that take place on Zoom.

All meetings will be captioned using Zoom's ASR. If other accommodations are needed, please let us know.

Have more questions? Watch our latest Information Session or come to our Virtual Office Hours.

Eligibility

This program is open to faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and staff from institutions of higher education and founders of tech-based startup companies aiming to apply for SBIR.

Candidates affiliated with the University of Kentucky or a Kentucky Commercialization Ventures partner institution must submit, or have already submitted, an Invention Report or Idea Report to the University of Kentucky Office of Technology Commercialization or to Kentucky Commercialization Ventures.

If you are affiliated with another institute of higher education and are interested in the UAccel program, have your tech transfer office reach out to us at x@launchblue.org.

SBIR-track startup founders must first engage with the Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation to be eligible for UAccel.

We encourage all members of a team to actively participate in the program. This includes both an entrepreneurial lead and a technical lead.

• Technical lead: Typically, a faculty member who is the inventor and serves as principal investigator, or a postdoctoral researcher who has deep expertise in the core technology area to be evaluated for market potential.

• Entrepreneurial lead: Typically, a graduate student or postdoctoral researcher who leads the team and is committed to commercialization.

How to Apply

Applications for the Summer 2025 Cohort will open in late spring.

Why UAccel?