North America
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Illinois Ventures launches student venture fund Orange & Blue Ventures
The University of Illinois’ spinout investment arm, one of the oldest in the United States, has taken the unusual step to create a student venture fund.
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Fund That Tiger roars towards first close
Fund That Tiger will invest in early-stage spinouts from Clemson University and startups founded by the institution’s alumni.
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Michael Rondelli retires after more than two decades in tech transfer
Michael Rondelli had been the associate vice president of innovation and commercialisation at the University of North Texas since 2015.
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Zane Gernhart returns to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Zane Gernhart is rejoining his former employer to lead the Office of Industry Relations, just under three years after he left the institution.
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Corsair Venture Partners launches with focus on the US northeast
Corsair Venture Partners has been set up by Chris Wolfel, who’s previously held multiple entrepreneurship roles at Northeastern University.
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UKMC’s Maria Meyers set to retire by late summer
Maria Meyers has been working in increasingly senior entrepreneurship roles at the University of Missouri-Kansas City since 2003.
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Wildcat Philanthropic Seed Fund makes first investments
The University of Arizona’s Wildcat Philanthropic Seed Fund has backed its first three spinouts after raising 60% of the initial target size.
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Portal Innovations launches fund and incubator for spinouts in Utah
Woodbine Labs will support spinouts from local institutions like the University of Utah and Brigham Young University.
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East Carolina University promotes Sharon Paynter to senior vice provost for research and innovation
Sharon Paynter has worked for East Carolina University for more than 16 years, including in senior leadership roles for research and innovation.
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Utah appoints Jamie Dwyer chief innovation officer, Bruce Hunter moves to Tecnológico de Monterrey
Jamie Dwyer succeeds Bruce Hunter at the University of Utah, as the former becomes chief innovation officer at the Tecnológico de Monterrey.
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UM Ventures elevates Felicia Metz to director
Felicia Metz has worked for the University of Maryland for more than 24 years and is also joining the AUTM board of directors this month.
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Tulsa promotes Chris Wright to assistant VP for innovation and entrepreneurship
Chris Wright was previously the director of the University of Tulsa’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship for three years.
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Vanderbilt recruits Susan Margulies as VP for research and innovation
Susan Margulies succeeds Padma Raghavan, who became Vanderbilt’s executive director for science and technology strategy last summer.
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Monique Simair to lead Saskatchewan’s Slogotski Hunt Centre for Entrepreneurship
The Slogotski Hunt Centre for Entrepreneurship supports faculty and students across the University of Saskatchewan.
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UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Fund quietly kicks off fundraising
The fund, launched in June last year, has secured its initial capitalisation.
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NJIT promotes Ike Nwabufo to director of technology transfer
Ike Nwabufo has been with the New Jersey Institute of Technology since April 2024, and will now oversee the full lifecycle of intellectual property.
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Justin Burns promoted to chief innovation officer at Georgia Research Alliance
Justin Burns has taken on the new role in addition to his duties as vice president for innovation and entrepreneurship.
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Neil Veloso joins Nationwide Children’s Hospital as VP for innovation and technology commercialisation
Neil Veloso is the new vice president for innovation and technology commercialisation at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, joining from Brown Technology Innovations.
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Tulane-focused 1834 Ventures raises $10 million
Launched in August last year, Tulane University-focused 1834 Ventures is now halfway towards its $20 million target.
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Mila partners with Inovia Capital for Venture Scientist Fund
The fund, in development since October last year, will invest in early-stage AI technologies and physical infrastructure developers.
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Brad Burke retires after 25 years with Rice University
Brad Burke will step down at the end of June, bringing to a close more than two decades of leading entrepreneurship activities at Rice University.
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Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Hub hires Lewis Sheats as inaugural executive director
Lewis Sheats has worked in academic entrepreneurship for more than two decades, and comes to UW-Madison from Saint Louis University.
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Epidarex secures £50 million from British Business Bank for new fund
Epidarex Capital focuses on early-stage life sciences spinouts from medical research institutions in the US and the UK.
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Walter Copan, VP for research and technology transfer at the Colorado School of Mines, steps down
Walter Copan has been with the Colorado School of Mines since 2021 and will step down at the end of February 2026 to focus on his family.
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Penn joins BioNTech and OUP to launch $50 million PxB Fund
The Penn-BioNTech Innovative Therapeutics Seed Fund follows the announcement of Penn’s $10 million StartUP Fund last month.
