Accelerate UConn is open to all university faculty and students. 

Accelerate UConn will help facilitate team formation and find ways to help connect faculty with students, students with faculty, and all teams with industry-based mentors.

Faculty

Faculty members with unique research-based innovations can determine the commercialization potential of their innovations. Faculty are encouraged to enlist the help of a graduate student or a post-doc who can help advance the team’s efforts by participating in workshops and training seminars, doing the work associated with identifying viable markets for new products and technology, and developing a strategy to bring them to market.

Students

Students developing new ideas that are not linked to their graduate program or a faculty member's research are encouraged to come together as a group of 2-3 individuals with complementary skill sets. They should consider enlisting the advice and counsel of a faculty member who has relevant technical or industry-based information. While this faculty member may not be expected to be involved in the day-to-day operations of the fledgling business, or participate fully in workshops or training activities, they might provide:

• Advice to fine-tune a student idea
• Existing technology to operationalize a concept
• Technical support for student-developed innovations or technology
• Credibility to student efforts