Three universities in St. Louis, as well as research and economic development groups, will share a $1 million challenge grant sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration in partnership with the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
The grant was announced today by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke. It's one of only six awarded nationwide and is intended to promote the country's best ideas in technological innovation and economic growth.
University of Missouri-St. Louis, along with BioGenerator (a privately funded, nonprofit organization created to facilitate the formation of life science companies in the St. Louis area), Coalition for Plant and Life Sciences, Washington University, Saint Louis University, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis County Economic Council and the St. Louis Development Corp., will use the grant to promote commercialization of technologies.
The grant was made available through the i6 Challenge, which seeks to identify and support the nation's best ideas for technology commercialization and entrepreneurship in six different regions of the country.
Projects include efforts to drive innovative technologies in the medical and bioscience industries to market more quickly by bringing experts in science and academia together with public and private sector businesses. |
