DURHAM, N.H. - UNHInnovation, a department of the University of New Hampshire, was awarded an 18-month grant from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) to strengthen existing curriculum and build new courses and programs in invention, innovation, and technology entrepreneurship. 

The NCIIA funding will support the development of a new course, Managing Innovation, based on an existing UNH course, Creating a Successful Business Using Lean Startup Methodology. The new course will be taught by UNHInnovation Executive Director Marc Sedam and three new teaching elements will be added which focus on facilitating the creation of companies based on intellectual property: education about and access to IP management and protection; relationships with industry mentors and formation of E-Teams (multidisciplinary groups of students, faculty, and industry mentors); and funds to develop prototypes. Students will be encouraged to apply for NCIIA E-Team grants and will be better equipped for successfully obtaining one of these grants after completing the Managing Innovation curriculum.

"By the end of the course, student teams will have acquired the business tools necessary to form a startup, form E-Teams with their innovative technologies, and enter business competitions like the Holloway Innovation-to-Market Competition," said Tim Willis, a licensing manager and grant development specialist for UNHInnovation. "UNH is committed to improving its entrepreneurial ecosystem across undergraduate programs and we saw this grant as a great opportunity to educate students on how to work with IP assets to create ideas and companies that improve productivity in the 21st century."

UNHInnovation's focus is on promoting UNH's intellectual property; building partnerships between UNH and the business community; and advocating entrepreneurship.

The NCIIA catalyzes positive social and environmental impact through invention and technological innovation by providing funding, training and mentoring for university faculty and student innovators. With support from The Lemelson Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Agency for International Development and a membership of nearly 200 colleges and universities from all over the U.S., the NCIIA engages approximately 5,000 student entrepreneurs each year, leveraging their campuses as working laboratories for invention and innovation and incubators for businesses, and ultimately helping them to bring their ideas to market. For more information, visit www.nciia.org.

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling 12,300 undergraduate and 2,200 graduate students.