News
U-M’s Kelly Sexton: Biotech Industry Continues to Thrive, Find New Solutions
3/19/2021By Nick Manes, Crains Detroit Business Last May, the University of Michigan inked a $130 million deal with New York City health care investment firm Deerfield Management Co. LP in an effort to ramp up drug commercialization efforts coming out of the Ann Arbor university’s tech transfer office. The deal...
U-M Startup Oncopia Acquired by Roivant
2/18/2021One of our biggest news stories happened as 2020 wound to a close when Roivant Pharma acquired University of Michigan (U-M) startup Oncopia Therapeutics, a targeted protein degradation company co-founded by prolific inventor and U-M Professor Shaomeng Wang. Under the deal, announced December 7, 2020, Roivant Sciences will add to...
Innovation Partnerships Ramps Up Great Lakes Discovery Program
11/18/2020After a 10-year alliance with up to $130 million in funding from Deerfield Management Co. was announced in May, the U-M Office of Innovation Partnerships has worked quickly to solicit the first round of project proposals and staff a role that will be essential for the alliance’s success. Under U-M’s...
2020 Distinguished Innovator of the Year
11/18/2020Creating online courthouses that improve access to justice and reduce disparities in our legal system earned J.J. Prescott, a University of Michigan law professor, this year’s Distinguished University Innovator Award. The award honors faculty who have developed transformative ideas, processes, or technologies and successfully brought them to market. Prescott’s...
Accelerate Blue Fund Approaches First Close Goal
11/18/2020The Accelerate Blue Fund, which will provide early-stage investment capital for U-M startup companies, has raised $1.5M of its “first close” goal of $2M thanks to the generous donations of its Founders Circle Members and Supporters. Accelerate Blue has a target size of $20 million, which will be raised through...
Refraction AI
9/28/2020Last Mile Delivery Robots Find Their Place During Stay at Home Order U-M robotics startup Refraction AI designs and operates networked fleets of autonomous robotic delivery vehicles. In the COVID-19 crisis they saw a clear need for the “last-mile” logistics platform that they had been testing on the streets of...
U-M Innovation Partnerships Impact
9/9/2020As I reflect on the past year and the challenges of the past few months, I feel incredible admiration for the ingenuity, brilliance and drive of the University of Michigan community of innovators…Kelly Sexton, Associate Vice President for Research Technology Transfer and Innovation Partnerships
U-M Record-Breaking Growth in Startups FY20
9/9/2020U-M launches record number of startups, inventions in FY2020, during period marked by pandemic By Jeff Karoub, Michigan News ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan launched a record 31 startups in fiscal year 2020, a 40% increase during a period that included a pandemic and temporarily shuttered labs. U-M inventors went...
2020 Distinguished University Innovator Award
8/27/2020Online Court Tool that Reduces Disparities, Virus Spread Wins Annual U-M Innovation Award By Jeff Karoub, Michigan News For developing technology that’s helping to democratize the justice system while decreasing the spread of COVID-19, University of Michigan law professor J.J. Prescott has earned this year’s Distinguished University Innovator Award. Prescott...
Deerfield Commits up to $130M to Commercialize Drug Discovery at the University of Michigan
5/27/2020By Jeff Karoub, Michigan News ANN ARBOR—A new partnership between the University of Michigan and health care investment firm Deerfield Management Co. will create a company to commercialize therapeutic projects that hold promise in solving unmet medical needs. U-M and Deerfield on Wednesday announced the launch of Great Lakes Discoveries...
Accelerate Blue Fund
10/18/2019New investment fund to offer early-stage capital for U-M startups Michigan News | by Dave Wilkins U-M Innovation Partnerships, the unit responsible for commercializing University of Michigan research discoveries and innovations, will create the Accelerate Blue Fund to provide seed capital to nascent U-M startup companies. Creation of the fund...
U-M Innovation Partnerships Sets Records in FY19
10/15/2019Innovation Partnerships activity sets records in fiscal year 2019 Michigan News, October 14, 2019 By Dave Wilkins The University of Michigan’s efforts to advance entrepreneurial activity and commercialize research accelerated to an unprecedented level in fiscal year 2019. U-M Innovation Partnerships reported that 22 startups were launched at the university,...