Kentucky helps innovators and entrepreneurs turn bold ideas into groundbreaking products and companies.
Big research universities don’t hold a monopoly on breakthrough inventions. Kentucky’s is the first program in America to join the strengths of every one of the state’s public higher education institutions to advance commercialization statewide
Kentucky Commercialization Ventures (KCV) is the unifying force that makes that possible. KCV provides the tools and expertise to translate innovations, research findings and intellectual property at every public institution in the state into market-ready products, services and job-creating startups. That includes expert advising and support from the earliest, pre-disclosure stages throughout the commercializations process.
KCV also leads the effort to grow the culture around intellectual property law and the network of practitioners around the state.
Part of this strategy will include establishing legal clinics in partnership with the state’s law schools to provide low and no-cost services related to IP protections and other issues facing startups and entrepreneurs.
KCV also spearheaded the formation of the Kentucky Intellectual Property Alliance, one of the first groups of its kind in the nation. The Alliance brings together professionals, attorneys, educators, and inventors to collaboratively promote IP education and attainment across Kentucky. To learn more about KYIPA’s mission and how to get involved visit www.kyipa.org.
Partners include the KY Innovation, University of Louisville, University of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, Western Kentucky University, Northern Kentucky University, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, the Kentucky Community & Technical College System and the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp.
KCV is funded and managed in part through KY Innovation – the state’s office for entrepreneurial and small business support within the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.
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Kentucky funds innovation that improves patient care and enhances health.
The KYNETIC (Kentucky Network for Innovation & Commercialization) grant program funds the commercialization of technologies with potential to benefit human health in Kentucky and around the world. Teams of faculty, staff and students at all of Kentucky’s public universities and colleges whose innovations address an unmet health need are eligible to compete for up to $200,000 to address unmet health needs and have commercialization potential.
The program is funded in part through the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (REACH) program. The KYNETIC hub is led by the University of Kentucky (UK), University of Louisville (UofL), the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, and Kentucky Commercialization Ventures (KCV).
The purpose of the federal EPSCoR program is to help states become competitive for federal research dollars by building research infrastructure, which included faculty, students and facilities. The Cabinet for Economic Development and KY Innovation provide the required match for KY EPSCoR, which currently has active grants with both the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA EPSCoR programs.
KY EPSCoR is governed by a Statewide Steering Committee, as required by the federal program, which oversees budget and research decisions. Furthermore it ensures that all parts of the state is involved and that universities collaborate. Membership is comprised of university administrators, research faculty and private sector individuals.
During the current grant cycle, KY EPSCoR researchers in the have leveraged state matching funds to obtain $36.2 million in follow on funding. NASA grants have yielded over a 6-1 return on investment for state matching funds since 2018, which represents a 25 percent increase. These projects have created 261 Kentucky jobs and $1.4 million in Kentucky tax revenue.
Kentucky is home to a deeply connected network of resources.
Find out what our statewide entrepreneurial ecosystem has to offer.
