Faculty members of the University of Notre Dame have a new incentive to make their work product available in the marketplace – an annual award for successfully commercializing their newest technologies.
Established with a $1 million gift from 1st Source Bank, the award will be presented each year to a Notre Dame faculty member, including those affiliated with the Indiana University School of Medicine in South Bend. Recipients will be selected by a committee chaired by Robert Bernhard, vice president for research at Notre Dame.
“The 1st Source Commercialization Award will encourage Notre Dame researchers to engage the market and share their discoveries with the world,” Bernhard said. “We are very pleased to be able to recognize our faculty and to highlight the important contributions their research can make to society – locally, nationally, even globally – by placing their new technologies in the marketplace.”
In addition to the award, the 1st Source gift also will fund an annual lecture series or symposium that will bring experts in commercializing new technologies to campus. The gift also permits small grants to help develop technologies that are well suited for commercialization through new commercial endeavors.
“We are grateful to 1st Source Bank for enabling us to offer our faculty this wonderful incentive to advance the teaching, research and engagement mission of the University,” said Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., Notre Dame’s president. “As we strive to find creative solutions to the challenges facing the world today, it is a fitting goal that the products of our research should be made available in the marketplace and it is my hope that our faculty will enthusiastically pursue such endeavors.”
Information about the nomination process for the 1st Source Faculty Commercialization Award is available through the Notre Dame Office of Technology Transfer at ott@nd.edu.