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Since 1996 Pitt has seen 98 start-up companies emerge, nine of which began in 2013. Many of these start-up companies emerge from life science research conducted by faculty members at Pitt. The faculty research is often funded by large government grants such as the NIH or NSF. However, that funding does not provide a viable means for launching a potential business from a research facility. The University has turned to Coulter program and CMI to facilitate the transition of these ideas to the marketplace. The University of Pittsburgh received $3.54 million from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation in 2011 to fund translational research to be supplemented by $1.5 million dollars from the schools of Medicine and Engineering respectively. The grant covers five years of funding and was awarded to only six universities nationally. The goal of the Coulter program grant is to accelerate the introduction of new technologies to address current clinical deficiencies. CMI (Center for Medical Innovation) is an initiative that is similar to the Coulter program however, is Pitt-specific. CMI was started through the Coulter initiative and is intended to be the perpetual seeding program after the Coulter grant has finished. With these programs Pitt faculty has been overwhelming successful in moving their innovative technologies into the marketplace.
== University technology transfer function <br/> == The Office of Technology and Management at the University of Pittsburgh is responsible for disclosing and managing all innovations and inventions. The process one follows to acquire intellectual property is as follows: *Meet with a group interested in pursuing a project*Define the parameters of the project within the scientific group including:<ul style="list-style-type:circle;"><li>Product specifications</li><li>Necessary collaborators</li><li>Proposed budget</li></ul><li>Meet with the Office of Technology and Management to conduct relevant patent searches</li><li>Determine whether the product is worth pursuing</li><li>Acquire funding for approved product</li><li>Design and build a prototype</li><li>Bring prototype to TTC committee (group of legal experts)</li><li>TTC committee makes a ruling on whether or not prototype is fit to patent</li><li>Submit patent application</li></ul> At this point Pitt is new to the entrepreneurial world so the majority of effort in patenting the life science innovations and inventions has been through CMI and Coulter. However, CMI and Coulter are looking to from more concrete relations between the OTM, research laboratories, and the department of Bioengineering. We hope to cultivate a perpetual seed funding program to drive future life science innovation and invention.
== University-Industry collaboration ==