KEY TAKEAWAYS: Tulane received a four-year, $6 million National Science Foundation grant, one of nine awards issued nationwide. SMART Tulane will help move university research into startups, commercial products and other market applications. Tulane aims to more than double startup formation fr om five to at least 12 companies annually by the program’s fourth year. More than 270 faculty members and researchers will receive commercialization training, with resulting jobs projected to have median salaries of $80,000.   Tulane University has received a four-year, $6 million National Science Foundation grant to expand efforts to turn university research into startups, commercial products and high-paying jobs in New Orleans and across the Gulf South. The award, one of nine issued nationwide through the NSF’s Accelerating Research Translation program, will fund SMART Tulane, a universitywide initiative focused on moving faculty and student discoveries from research settings into the marketplace. Tulane said the program will provide researchers with training and resources for technology commercialization, including intellectual property strategy, market assessment, customer discovery and venture formation. By the fourth year of the program, the university aims to support at least 12 startup formations annually, more than double its current rate of five per year. Tulane projects jobs created through the initiative will have median salaries of $80,000. “SMART Tulane represents the critical next step in a transformation we have been building for more than a decade,” Tulane President Michael A. Fitts said. “We have the research talent, we have the Innovation Institute, and with the Charity redevelopment project we will greatly expand our world-class facilities and research infrastructure.” Kimberly Gramm, Tulane’s chief innovation and entrepreneurship officer, will lead the initiative. Co-investigators are Donald Gaver, a professor of biomedical engineering, and Ibrahim Demir, presidential chair in environmental informatics and artificial intelligence in Tulane’s School of Science and Engineering. SMART Tulane plans to certify more than 120 faculty members across all nine Tulane schools as research translation leaders, called ART Ambassadors. Another 152 undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral researchers are expected to receive hands-on commercialization training through fellowships, research projects, I-Corps programming and the Tulane University Innovation Institute’s Founder Lab. “By broadening the societal and economic returns on research across all of Tulane’s schools, SMART Tulane will advance prosperity in our region and bring research to market with innovations that have global benefits,” Gramm said. “This grant gives Tulane the resources to help researchers understand the path from proof of concept to commercialization.” The initiative will also develop artificial intelligence-enabled tools to identify market opportunities, evaluate intellectual property and connect Tulane innovations with potential industry partners. Tulane will partner with Georgia Institute of Technology, which will help the university adapt technology commercialization and startup-development practices to Tulane’s research priorities and Gulf South focus. The NSF award comes as Tulane continues plans to redevelop the former Charity Hospital building in downtown New Orleans as a research and innovation hub bringing together researchers, students, entrepreneurs and industry partners. Tulane said its federal research funding has nearly doubled over the past decade. The university plans to share practices and tools developed through SMART Tulane with other institutions, particularly universities in regions with fewer resources for moving academic research into the marketplace. ...read more read less