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The Office of Tech Transfer and Commercialization at Wichita State University has launched a program designed to connect experienced entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs with cutting-edge technologies and the opportunity to commercialize them. 

The new Matchmaking Program links entrepreneurs, investors and businesses with technology, ideas and opportunities developed at Wichita State – paired with the guidance and support necessary to commercialize these marketplace-shaping technologies. 

Current technologies include the Digital Review Environment to Asses Models (DREAM) Software, and the Foreign Object Debris (FOD) Collector Automated Mobile Robot Technology, both developed at Wichita State’s National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR).

DREAM, developed in NIAR’s Virtual Reality Lab, enables large Computer Aided Design (CAD) models to be displayed in a 1:1 scale on any type of virtual reality system. With its proprietary preprocessing step, DREAM can prepare any size CAD model for display in a VR environment while maintaining high frame rates that eliminate flickering and motion-induced illness. 

The FOD Collector, developed in NIAR’s Robotics and Automation Lab, is an attachment for automated mobile robots that allows them to expand their capability by sweeping floors as they perform their other intended functions, such as stocking and scanning merchandise on a warehouse or factory floor.

To learn more about these technologies, visit https://goventuredash.com/competitions/270. Those interested in marketing the technology should complete the application, which includes a 10-slide pitch presentation deck. The application deadline is Sunday, April 24.

Submissions will be narrowed to a group of finalists who will ultimately pitch to regional and national judges in a reverse Shark Tank style. The winning plan for each technology will receive a 6-month royalty-free development license; resources and relationship support from Wichita State; and a chance at a full commercial license.

The program will continue as new technologies are added to the VentureDash portal.

The Matchmaking Program is partially funded by a $750,000 Build to Scale Venture Challenge grant awarded to the Wichita Entrepreneurial Coalition by the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

The Build to Scale Venture Challenge grant will also fund an eight-week Ignitor start-up school, NXTSTAGE Accelerator and NXTSTAGE Pilot Competition.