Technology Transfer at Oregon State University

On this episode of Tech Transfer IP, Lisa has the pleasure of speaking with Karl Mundorff. Karl is the Executive Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Oregon State University (OSU) and the Co-Director of the OSU Advantage Accelerator. Karl joined OSU in September 2015 as the Senior Program Manager.

Before his time at OSU, Karl was the Director of Research Programs for Oregon BEST; A State Signature Research Center focused on advancing the cleantech cluster. He worked with University and National Lab researchers to advance technology to market. Karl also advises various start-ups across a broad swath of industries and has also designed and taught innovation, strategy, and entrepreneurship in two different university MBA programs.

Karl shares his background, his journey to Tech Transfer, and how he ended up at OSU. He also speaks about OSU Advantage and the Advantage Accelerator and what both programs do. OSU also has the Iterate program, which gives a basic understanding of what entrepreneurship is and what it means to be an entrepreneur, a basic understanding of the Business Model Canvas, the understanding of the customer discovery process, plus much more.

Listen as Karl discusses The Next Great Start-up event, some funding opportunities available to OSU's start-ups, and another event they have called Innovation Day. Karl also shares a few of the most successful technologies or start-ups that have come out of the Accelerator and his office's two biggest challenges. 

Karl speaks about what his team is doing to close the gender and diversity gaps in start-up founders and about being involved in the Promotion and Tenure Innovation & Entrepreneurship (PTIE) Coalition, their goals, and what they hope to accomplish. 

In This Episode:

• [02:18] Welcome to the show, Karl!
• [02:37] Karl shares his background, his journey to Tech Transfer, and how he ended up at OSU.
• [05:20] Karl speaks about OSU Advantage and what it does.
• [06:46] As the Co-Director of OSU's Advantage Accelerator, can you tell us more about it?
• [09:31] Karl shares that a basic understanding of what entrepreneurship is and what it means to be an entrepreneur is just one outcome of the Iterate program.
• [10:40] Karl discusses the Accelerate and Launch programs, how long they are, and other important details.
• [12:51] Can you tell us how is the Accelerate office structured?
• [17:12] Karl speaks about The Next Great Start-up event and when it is held.
• [20:26] Karl shares some of the funding opportunities available to OSU's start-ups.
• [21:28] University Innovation Research Fund Matching Funds is one of the funds available to OSU's start-ups.
• [28:34] Karl talks about an event called Innovation Day, what it is, how it got started, and when they hold the event.
• [29:48] Can you share some of the matrices on how the Accelerator is performing?
• [31:04] Karl shares some successful start-ups or technologies that have come out of the Accelerator like Valliscor, Agility, Robotics, and many more.
• [34:15] Karl speaks about two of his office's biggest challenges.
• [35:07] Karl discusses what his team is doing about closing the gender and diversity gaps in start-up founders.
• [39:35] Karl talks about being involved in the Promotion and Tenure Innovation & Entrepreneurship (PTIE) Coalition, what their goals are, and what they hope to accomplish.
• [43:08] If you had three wishes granted for your office, what would they be?
• [44:53] Thank you so much for being on the show!

Find Karl:

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