Courtesy of the NMSU News Center
New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Center received a $1 million grant Sept. 19 after winning a national competition aimed at spurring technology commercialization and small business development.
“This funding will benefit not just the faculty and students of NMSU, but the entire region through the economic growth and development it will spur,” said Garrey Carruthers, vice president for economic development and dean of NMSU’s College of Business.
Created in 2010 as a component of the White House’s Startup America initiative, the competition, dubbed the i6 Challenge, was led by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
The initiative sought to accelerate innovative product and business development by supporting proof of concept centers at universities and research consortiums across the country.
As one of seven states with winning proposals, New Mexico was awarded funding for their initiatives to accelerate commercialization of research and to build an entrepreneurial environment in Southern N.M. and West Texas.
With NMSU matching the awarded $1 million, funding for the Arrowhead Center will support Launch, an existing proof of concept center created in 2011 to move innovative technologies from NMSU laboratories and development settings to market.
It will also help establish the Arrowhead Innovation Network, which is based upon existing programs and initiatives of the Arrowhead Center, and will provide entrepreneurs with various technical assistance and services including enterprise research, technology business acceleration and intellectual property management.
The proposal was submitted in July and contributions were made by NMSU’s College of Engineering, Office of the Vice President for Research and The Hub of Human Innovation in El Paso, with letters of support from the many partners of Arrowhead Center.
The winners were determined based upon technical merit and investment reviews based on the agency’s funding criteria. Applications for the competition were evaluated by industry and public sector leaders.
