“Startup Advantage” offers user-friendly experience to university innovators

CONTACT:
Jeanan Yasiri Moe
Director of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs
[email protected] | (608) 960-9892

MADISON, Wis. - A better and faster user experience is the goal of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation's new program called "Startup Advantage." The initiative includes a standardized license agreement offering consistent royalty terms for University of Wisconsin-Madison startups. The new process was developed with input from entrepreneurs, investors, legal counsel and other university startup programs.

For a century, WARF has provided patenting and licensing services for researchers from UW-Madison and the Morgridge Institute for Research. To date, more than 100 faculty and graduate students interested in creating their own startup enterprises have worked directly with WARF in licensing the technologies resulting from research in their labs, leading to business creation fueling Wisconsin's economy. With growing interest among university inventors in startup entities, WARF wanted to provide an efficient, accessible process to help launch new businesses and support new entrepreneurs.

"We aim to make our process and agreements transparent and more startup friendly," says Jeanine Burmania, Senior Director of Intellectual Property and Licensing at WARF. "Our hope is to reduce the time and legal processes for startup leaders, helping them avoid some legal expenses and launch more smoothly from campus."

With Startup Advantage, WARF's licensing arrangements with UW-Madison startups include a discounted royalty rate and minimal up-front expense. Detailed terms can be found at this link.

This initiative aligns with and supports UW-Madison's founders-focused entrepreneurship strategy for campus.

"WARF's Startup Advantage program provides UW-Madison entrepreneurs with a streamlined licensing process that makes it easier and faster for entrepreneurs to launch companies that utilize intellectual property created at UW-Madison," says Jon Eckhardt, Pyle Bascom Professor in Business Leadership and Special Advisor to the Chancellor on Entrepreneurship at UW-Madison. "This new licensing option is a welcome development for those seeking to broaden the impact of the university by making new products and companies based on novel technologies."

"We want to enhance UW-Madison's startup ecosystem and better facilitate the transition of technologies from campus to UW-Madison entrepreneurs," adds Burmania.

Inventors interested in licensing a patent for their startup should contact WARF just as they have in the past, through their intellectual property and licensing contacts. A list of WARF staff is located here, or inventors can contact Jeanine Burmania at 608-960-9846 or [email protected]. A summary of the Startup Advantage program can be found here.

About WARF

Incorporated in 1925, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) patents and licenses discoveries from UW-Madison research, manages an investment portfolio generated from licensing and investment proceeds, and provides annual grants to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Morgridge Institute for Research to support further scientific investigation and research. By driving collaborations among researchers, investors, industry and entrepreneurs, WARF commercializes innovations from campus through various initiatives. WARF Accelerator improves the commercialization potential of university intellectual property through industry engagement and investment in proof-of-concept milestones to validate market potential, demonstrate commercial value and de-risk technology. WARF Therapeutics partners with UW-Madison and Morgridge Institute researchers employing an industry-focused approach to improve the value propositions of drug candidates. WARF Ventures is an early-stage venture fund that invests in startups based on UW/WARF technologies. Learn more at warf.org.

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