The Center for Advancing Innovation
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    • Innovate Children's Health Challenge
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    • Space Race
    • Nano Startup Challenge
    • Neuro Startup Challenge
    • Breast Cancer Startup Challenge
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    • Ignite Social Impact Announcement
    • Innovate Children's Health Challenge Announcement
    • Innovation Arms Race
  • Podcast
    • Words of Wisdom from Sheldon Himelfarb - Bringing Peace to the World Through Entrepreneurship
    • What's in Store in the Next Regime with Brain Bonlender
    • Connecting Talent with Opportunity with Nick Donofrio
    • Using Your Strengths to Find Your Superpower with Tien Wong
    • Be Nice, Work Hard, and Get A Great Education. Insights from a maestro with Maurice Jones
    • Innovation in Children's Health with Kolaleh Eskandanian & Vasum Peiris
    • Making an Impact with Neil St. Clair
    • Virtual Reality Brain Training with Amir Bozorgzadeh
    • Curriculum, Community, and Capital for Underrepresented Founders with Bjorn K Simmons
    • Retain Your Best Customers and Turn them into Raving Fans with Joey Coleman
    • Jordan Carlisle: Founder, Investor, and Northwest Arkansas Community Builder
    • Fighting Like a Mother to Cure SLC6A1 with Amber Freed
    • The Future of Family Office Investing with Arthur Bavelas
    • Preparing for a post-COVID future with Louis Efron, Founder of World Child Cancer
    • Transformational Leadership with Lara Stein, Co-Founder of Boma Global and TEDx
    • Susan and Robert Gold, the co-founders of Feynman School
    • Charles J. Andres, Patents & Innovation Associate with Wilson Sonsini
    • Why Doctors Skip Breakfast with Gregory Charlop
    • Leveraging technology transfer to drive economic growth with Katherine Hill Ritchie
    • How the US bounces back after Coronavirus with Think Tank Superstar Ross DeVol
    • The secret power within the microbiome with Ross Youngs
    • The Coronavirus Episode with Ivan Delgado Orlic
    • The Super Connector, Richard Lofgren
    • Sheri Sobrato and CAI's upcoming children's health challenge
    • Leading GA Tech into a top 10 tech transfer organization with Terry Bray
    • The pioneer who established Stanford's Tech Transfer as a global leader, Kathy Ku
    • How Keith Marmer is helping turn Salt Lake City into a tech transfer powerhouse
    • Engaging Regulators for Success with Marty Rosendale
    • Infusing Startup Culture into Tech Transfer with Tom Stackhouse
    • Investing in the Biggest Challenges in Child Healthcare with John Parker
    • Policymaking, Keys to Innovation in Bio, and More with Jim Greenwood!
    • Incorporating the Bragg Factor into Your Work
    • Aligning Tech Transfer to DEFEAT Brain Diseases with John Boockvar
    • Why Tech Transfer is Key to Winning the Innovation Arms Race
    • Pioneering a New Era of Tech Transfer with Ruben Flores
  • About Us
    • Differentiators
    • Our Partnerships
    • Contact Us
  • Internship Program

Our Partnerships


Key Partners


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Ecosystem Partnerships


HealthTech Arkansas
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HealthTech Arkansas and the Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI) have partnered to work together with healthcare researchers and early-stage companies to drive innovation in clinical environments. The Center for Advancing Innovation launches startups around promising inventions in order to unleash life-changing inventions with exponential impact; create knowledge-based jobs and new markets; boost the economy and engage diverse communities, including addressing economic inequality.​
Learn more here
JLABS (Johnson & Johnson Innovation)
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The Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI), the world’s largest virtual startup challenge-based accelerator, announced today a collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS to provide at least one startup from CAI’s Freedom from Cancer Startup Challenge lab and/or office space at JLABS @ TMC in Houston.​
Learn more here
Founder Institute
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Founders gain access to capital-efficient, commercially viable inventions from federal labs through two complementary accelerator programs from the Center for Advancing Innovation and Founder Institute. 
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The Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI), which leads the world’s preeminent global challenge-accelerator program to commercialize federally funded inventions, announced a new partnership with the Founder Institute, the world’s premier idea-stage accelerator and startup launch program. This initiative is created to strengthen efforts to increase the probability of launching successful startups to develop and commercialize federally funded inventions. 
Learn more here
Biotechnology Innovation Organization
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The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the world's largest biotech trade association, is teaming up with the Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI) to engage the biotech community and assist in promoting the Freedom from Cancer Startup Challenge (FCSC), a unique initiative designed to advance and commercialize 100 cancer inventions for the prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer.
Learn More
AngelSpan
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AngelSpan, the leading provider of investor relations services for early-stage companies, today announced an alliance with The Center for Advancing Innovation, a cutting-edge organization that has “cracked the code” on tech transfer and breakthrough commercialization.​ 
Learn More
Open Therapeutics
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Open Therapeutics and the Center for Advancing Innovation announce the formation of a unique intellectual property (IP) sharing and commercialization model.
Learn More
Oxford Global Ventures
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Oxford Global Ventures and the Center for Advancing Innovation announce a partnership to utilize CAI's technology curation efforts to spur on entrepreneurial ideas and growth within the OGV ecosystem.
Learn More

Select Collaborations


Collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, and
​the Heritage Provider Network
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The Heritage Provider Network, National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI) are partnering to launch the Brain Challenge in order to launch new startups around 20 promising NIH inventions. This challenge will accelerate the commercialization of Federal agency brain-related inventions, spur economic growth, and provide Universities a platform to further develop their entrepreneurship learning portfolio. 
​Learn more here

Collaboration Agreement with the National Cancer Institute
​and Avon Foundation

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The Avon Foundation (AF), National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI) have partnered to launch a “first of a kind” Business Plan and Start-Up Challenge for Breast Cancer (BC) inventions that have high commercial viability and are important to public health. This challenge will accelerate the commercialization of Federal agency and AF grantee BC inventions, spur economic growth, and provide Universities a platform to further develop their entrepreneurship learning portfolio.
Learn more here


Agreement to Perform Invention Due Diligence and Startup Challenge to Commercialize Inventions with the
​National Aeronautic and Space Administration
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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is launching “Startup NASA”, a new initiative to encourage the use of federally funded technologies by start-up companies. “Startup NASA” includes the opportunity for new companies to license NASA technologies with no up-front payment and kicks off an effort with the Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI) to encourage more space technology spin-offs by entrepreneurs. Startup NASA helps address two of the biggest challenges faced by start-up companies: raising capital and securing intellectual property rights. By eliminating up-front licensing fees, NASA is letting new companies hold onto their cash while securing the intellectual property rights needed to secure their competitive market space. This benefit is available to companies formed to commercialize NASA technology. In addition, to foster the creation of new start-up companies and encourage adoption of NASA technologies, NASA will work with the CAI to run a multi-phase business plan competition in 2016. CAI will review NASA’s portfolio of technologies and identify those that have near-term commercialization potential. CAI will conduct outreach teams to explore the market potential of the technologies and write business plans. The winners of the competition will be awarded a cash prize, provided by third-party venture capital investors, and will be encouraged to incorporate and pursue licensing the technologies from NASA, using their winnings as seed funding for the new business.

Collaboration with the Medical Center of the Americas Foundation

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The Medical Center of the Americas (MCA) Foundation, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization, is focused on creating a world class medical center to foster and accelerate biomedical innovation, creating new employment opportunities while meeting healthcare needs of the Paso del Norte region (the larger cross-border region of El Paso County; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; and Juárez, Mexico). The MCA is spearheading this regional initiative with the development of the Cardwell Collaborative biomedical research and commercialization building, the SPACE RACE and many other programs. www.MCAmericas.org


Research Institutes Offering Inventions in CAI Challenges


Arizona State University
Brigham Young University
Columbia University
Duke University
East Carolina University
Emory University
Florida State University
Georgia Tech
Kansas State University
Mayo Clinic
Medical University of South Carolina
NASA
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
NCATS
NHLBI
NHGRI
NIAID
NICHD
NIDCR
Nationwide Children's Hospital
New Mexico Tech
​New York University

North Carolina State
Ohio State University
Princeton University
​St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Stanford University
United States Army
University of Arizona
University of Arkansas
University of California - Berkeley
University of California - Davis
University of California - Los Angeles
University of California - San Diego
University of Central Florida
​University of Central Lancashire
University of Cincinnati
University of Colorado
University of Florida
University of Hawaii
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
University of Kansas
University of Maryland
University of Maryland - Baltimore
University of Michigan
University of Missouri​
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
University of Nebraska Medical Center
University of New Mexico
University of North Carolina
University of Oklahoma
University of Pennsylvania
​University of Sheffield
University of South Carolina
University of Southern California
University of Toledo
University of Utah
University of Virginia
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin
Vanderbilt University
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest University
Washington University in St. Louis​
Yale University
The Center for Advancing Innovation, Inc 2015
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  • Home
  • Approach
  • Startup Challenges
    • Innovate Children's Health Challenge
    • SCALE Challenge
    • Brain Race
    • Freedom from Cancer Startup Challenge
    • Virginia Beach Bio Startup Challenge
    • Space Race
    • Nano Startup Challenge
    • Neuro Startup Challenge
    • Breast Cancer Startup Challenge
  • Awards
  • Testimonials
  • News
    • Ignite Social Impact Announcement
    • Innovate Children's Health Challenge Announcement
    • Innovation Arms Race
  • Podcast
    • Words of Wisdom from Sheldon Himelfarb - Bringing Peace to the World Through Entrepreneurship
    • What's in Store in the Next Regime with Brain Bonlender
    • Connecting Talent with Opportunity with Nick Donofrio
    • Using Your Strengths to Find Your Superpower with Tien Wong
    • Be Nice, Work Hard, and Get A Great Education. Insights from a maestro with Maurice Jones
    • Innovation in Children's Health with Kolaleh Eskandanian & Vasum Peiris
    • Making an Impact with Neil St. Clair
    • Virtual Reality Brain Training with Amir Bozorgzadeh
    • Curriculum, Community, and Capital for Underrepresented Founders with Bjorn K Simmons
    • Retain Your Best Customers and Turn them into Raving Fans with Joey Coleman
    • Jordan Carlisle: Founder, Investor, and Northwest Arkansas Community Builder
    • Fighting Like a Mother to Cure SLC6A1 with Amber Freed
    • The Future of Family Office Investing with Arthur Bavelas
    • Preparing for a post-COVID future with Louis Efron, Founder of World Child Cancer
    • Transformational Leadership with Lara Stein, Co-Founder of Boma Global and TEDx
    • Susan and Robert Gold, the co-founders of Feynman School
    • Charles J. Andres, Patents & Innovation Associate with Wilson Sonsini
    • Why Doctors Skip Breakfast with Gregory Charlop
    • Leveraging technology transfer to drive economic growth with Katherine Hill Ritchie
    • How the US bounces back after Coronavirus with Think Tank Superstar Ross DeVol
    • The secret power within the microbiome with Ross Youngs
    • The Coronavirus Episode with Ivan Delgado Orlic
    • The Super Connector, Richard Lofgren
    • Sheri Sobrato and CAI's upcoming children's health challenge
    • Leading GA Tech into a top 10 tech transfer organization with Terry Bray
    • The pioneer who established Stanford's Tech Transfer as a global leader, Kathy Ku
    • How Keith Marmer is helping turn Salt Lake City into a tech transfer powerhouse
    • Engaging Regulators for Success with Marty Rosendale
    • Infusing Startup Culture into Tech Transfer with Tom Stackhouse
    • Investing in the Biggest Challenges in Child Healthcare with John Parker
    • Policymaking, Keys to Innovation in Bio, and More with Jim Greenwood!
    • Incorporating the Bragg Factor into Your Work
    • Aligning Tech Transfer to DEFEAT Brain Diseases with John Boockvar
    • Why Tech Transfer is Key to Winning the Innovation Arms Race
    • Pioneering a New Era of Tech Transfer with Ruben Flores
  • About Us
    • Differentiators
    • Our Partnerships
    • Contact Us
  • Internship Program