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Whiteboard2Boardroom

The Whiteboard to Boardroom project seeks to commercialize technology through a partnership of education, nonprofit and private sector organizations.

About

The Whiteboard to Boardroom (W2B) program provides a number of services to the regional entrepreneurial community. These include identification of CEO talent and mentors for new companies, access to innovations developed at regional academic institutions and research organizations, establishment of strategic partnerships and identification of sources of capital. W2B is a team effort that includes research partners who provide the new technologies; a technology transfer office that collects technologies from research partners and helps with initial assessment and intellectual property issues; entrepreneurs with a depth of expertise and experience in different research areas that utilize a variety of business models; W2B staff members that serve as "match-makers; " and service providers such as the SBTDC and KCSourceLink that assist with business connections to facilitate startup development. Led by the UMKC Innovation Center, a National Science Foundation Partnership for Innovation grant created the Whiteboard to Boardroom program as a partnership between four regional schools – UMKC, University of Kansas, Johnson County Community College and William Jewell College. It has since expanded to include 17 academic and research institutions in the bi-state region. If you are looking for an innovation to license into your existing company or want to form a new company based on an innovation, visit CEO Bullpen or contact Jim Baxendale at baxendalej@umkc.edu, (816)-235-6429.