When a startup launches from a university there often remains a level of risk that potential investors are not ready to take on. That’s where a SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) or STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) grant can fill the void to keep an innovation from withering in the "Valley of Death".
Jared Raszewski’s (ENGR ’18) passion for innovation and entrepreneurship emerged while taking a chemical product commercialization course in his senior year at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering.
The words Innovation and invention are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing.
Pitt startup Astria Biosciences continues to rack up milestones as it works to bring the first simple, whole blood-based test to detect the presence and monitor the progression of cerebral aneurysms to market. It’s latest accomplishment: receiving a $275,000 SBIR Phase 1 commercialization grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The grant will be applied toward developing a robust data set with a focus on minorities to provide higher test fidelity in high-risk and under-represented patient groups and developing a dynamic rupture risk score that can be used to define novel aneurysm sub-groupings.
From undergrads to PhD candidates, Students Impress Judges with Grasp of Technology and Business Acumen