About the Enabling Innovation Initiative

Young man jumping a broken bridge. This is a 3d render illustration

Purpose

The ei2 (Enabling Innovation Initiative) program exists to lower barriers, serve as a bridge to entrepreneurial resources, and to actively support efforts to move basic science discoveries forward into technology commercialization opportunities.

Goals

In providing increased support for innovation and entrepreneurial activity by SOM faculty, we expect to see:

Increased licensing and new ventures
A greater appreciation of these efforts as part of faculty recruitment and retention
Fostering interactions and collaborations with industry

Speaker Series

The Initiative holds an annual speaker series (2-3 speakers in the spring, and 2-3 speakers in the fall) focused on examples of advancing innovation on campus. Presenters for the speakers series include researcher-entrepreneurs that have launched and grown companies focused on commercializing the fruits of their academic research programs, describing the process, challenges and benefits of leading commercialization efforts. Information about prior speakers for this series can be found here.

Innovation Ambassador Program

The Innovation Ambassadors Program is a volunteer initiative whereby a faculty member from each department across the University acts as a liaison between researchers and innovation programs across campus to provide Vanderbilt faculty with improved, peer-delivered access to information and assistance related to innovation and entrepreneurship activities on campus. Ambassadors received tailored instruction on a variety of commercialization and entrepreneurship topics, as well as IP and application of Vanderbilt policies and procedures, all designed to enable them to help others in their departments obtain quick guidance on their innovation and entrepreneurship needs. Information about the program, including sign-up information, can be found here.