SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The University of Rhode Island Research Foundation announced Thursday that it has been awarded a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research to help develop and advance the blue economy, marine and energy technologies, plus other opportunities that strengthen the state’s economy and its workforce.
URI Research Foundation says a new initiative, called the Resilient Innovative Sustainable Economies via University Partnerships – or “RISE-UP” – will be in collaboration with the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and the University of Hawaii. RISE-UP’s goal, the foundation says, is to bring “dual-use” products and technology to the commercial market, as well as launching new business ventures to have positive impacts on Rhode Island’s, Alaska’s and Hawaii’s economies.
Expanding Access, Advancing Care
At South County Health, access to exceptional healthcare is more than a mission — it’s…
Learn More
RISE-UP, which will be managed by 401 Tech Bridge, will also leverage the technical expertise among the three partnered universities to develop entrepreneurial skills and catalyze innovation, the foundation said. In a statement, URI Research Foundation Executive Director Christian Cowan said the RIDE-UP program has a unique opportunity to accelerate technology commercialization in states connected to different ocean environments and “solve global challenges for both military and commercial applications.”
“Increasing technology-based ventures with URI student faculty teams and connecting to Alaska and Hawaii ecosystems will provide a new vision to solve large problems,” Cowan said.
RISE-UP’s programs, the foundation said, will focus on developing technical solutions to mission critical needs, cross-disciplinary education and experiential training in innovation and entrepreneurship, and collaboration among world-class research facilities, faculty, students and industry in all three states. The program will also have four subprograms to offer cross-disciplinary “lean launchpad” process-based training that sustainably supports next generation talent, the foundation said.
Those subprograms are:
- Pathways to Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Defense, a semester-long program focused on industry identified mission problem sets
- URI Patents2Products, a year-long fellowship on innovation and entrepreneurship for URI graduate students and post-doctoral researchers to acquire the tools necessary for launching a successful startup
- Ideation Studio, focused on accelerating the growth of start-up companies with a target goal of developing a minimum viable product in the hands of early adopters with an established product-market fit
- RISE-UP Faculty Fellows, to establish an active network of colleagues integrating entrepreneurial mindsets into their teaching and research
Timelines and additional program details will be announced later this month, the foundation said.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
