Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is the Venture Development Center?
  2. Why create a VDC?
  3. Can you offer an example of a research partnership that has benefited from VDC services?
  4. What are the historical roots of the VDC project?
  5. Are there models for the VDC project?
  6. How will the VDC project determine the initial areas of focus?
  7. How are faculty members involved in the VDC project?
  8. What is the current status of the VDC project?
  9. How will the VDC space be used?
  10. What are some of the activities that will take place in the VDC space?
  11. Why has the Wheatley cafeteria space been assigned to the VDC project?
  12. What is the mechanism that moves a project from a faculty member’s office or research bench in a department lab to one that is supported with VDC services?
  13. How do VDC services differ from ORSP services?
  14. How will the VDC services generate revenue for the university?
  15. What is the next evolutionary step for the VDC project?
  16. What are the research collaboration clusters that will be the initial focus of VDC services?
  17. What mechanisms will ensure that the VDC project remains focused on the strategic research priorities of the university and the economic development needs of the Greater Boston community?
  18. What are the metrics that will be used to evaluate the success of the VDC project and how will the necessary data be collected and processed?
  19. What are the questions about the VDC project that remain to be answered?

1. What is the Venture Development Center?

The Venture Development Center (VDC) is a new university center, accountable to the provost and overseen by the vice provost for research, which will assist faculty and staff members, as well as students, throughout the university to:

Criteria for selecting and supporting ventures will include:

The VDC is neither an academic nor a research center, but rather a dynamic, efficient, flexible, and sustainable business development center. By attracting and leveraging resources and expertise, the VDC will build the university’s intellectual capital, helping to transform UMass Boston into a nationally prominent urban research institution that enriches the lives of all members of our community.

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2. Why create a VDC?

The trend in sponsored research is toward greater collaboration across disciplines and among institutions. Research partnerships are becoming a prerequisite for many federal grant programs, and many of these must be government–industry–academic partnerships. Over the past year, UMass Boston has created several large-scale research partnerships, upgraded and expanded research services and infrastructure, and attracted creative faculty members, placing us in an advantageous position to achieve our strategic research goals. Although we have significant capacity for innovative research, our campus lacks specialized space and resources that can support alliances with other institutions for the development of multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional grant proposals. In addition, our campus lacks generic laboratory surge space that can be allocated on a time-limited basis to support faculty collaborations with colleagues at other institutions or in industry.

The VDC will provide a new front door to the university for innovative collaborations of faculty members with external constituents, assisting them to secure additional support for cutting-edge research projects that enhance our national profile and challenge our campus to achieve ever-greater levels of research success. The VDC will build product development collaborations between the university and the Greater Boston business sector and assist faculty members to transfer promising technologies into new commercial enterprises that create an economically prosperous urban community. And this door will swing both ways as the VDC staff goes into government departments, corporate offices, and community organizations in search of research opportunities for our faculty members and their students. They will build and strengthen a network of contacts with federal and state agencies and the Boston-area academic, business, and entrepreneurial communities.

The UMass Board of Trustees has focused its attention on our university’s capacity for innovative research, and has pointed out that cross-campus alliances and university–industry cooperation are critical for the enhancement of research endeavors. It has identified as priorities the linking of faculty research activities to the needs of the state and the development of university capacity to transfer technology and support entrepreneurship. UMass President Jack Wilson has said that in Massachusetts, “the path to economic and social development goes through UMass.” He envisions all campuses contributing to the university’s “value chain of innovation,” which starts with research and then moves through development to entrepreneurship, licensing, and commercialization. He has championed large-scale science and technology collaborations supported by federal grants and by industry as a way to enhance the university’s image and enlarge this vital revenue stream.

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3. Can you offer an example of a research partnership that has benefited from VDC services?

In the fall of 2004, Dr. Kyle McInnis, chairperson of the Department of Exercise and Health Sciences, proposed the establishment of a research and training center in collaboration with Children’s Hospital Boston (CHB) that would advance the science and clinical practice of promoting health and fitness in youth. He and Dr. Greer Glazer, dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences (CNHS), presented this concept to Provost Fonteyn who endorsed the concept. However, he requested additional information concerning the requested discretionary resources necessary for startup as well as the operational aspects of the proposed center.

During the next 12 months, Dean Glazer and Dr. McInnis worked with senior physicians and professional staff at CHB to develop the research collaboration model for a world-class interdisciplinary youth fitness research and training center. During this time the VDC staff assisted Drs. Glazer and McInnis to develop the business plan for the collaboration, including a financial feasibility study that identified potential benefits and risks. The principals of both institutions executed a cooperative research agreement in April 2006 to establish this innovative partnership.

Executives at CHB and UMass Boston have agreed to provide nearly three-quarters of a million dollars to this promising venture on our campus. Although the primary benefits to UMass Boston are the accomplishment of the research and training goals of CNHS, the business plan demonstrates that the center can be self-sufficient within 5 years from participant fees for services received, from research grants from federal or corporate sponsors, and from philanthropic gifts designated for support of the center’s youth fitness activities. Once the agreement is executed, the VDC staff will continue to support this venture, overseeing the design and construction of the space, providing startup assistance (e.g., developing billing and financial accounting systems), and assisting in the development of a marketing and participant recruitment plan for the center’s youth fitness activities.

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4. What are the historical roots of the VDC project?

The VDC concept began to take shape nearly 30 years ago when the campus considered purchasing and renovating the old Calf Pasture Pumping Station and adjacent land to create environmental science laboratories. This evolved into the broader concept of a UMass Boston science and technology park, comprising a mix of scientific labs, research institutes, and business incubator services. However, the estimated cost of the Calf Pasture project was beyond our reach given other capital priorities of the campus. The VDC project is proposed as a way to prove the concept on a small scale before launching the effort necessary to secure funding for a university science and technology park.

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5. Are there models for the VDC project?

There are a number of examples of venture centers at research universities across the country that have been studied. For example, representatives of the Charlotte Research Institute, a strong model for an urban-focused and young campus within a dynamic university system, were invited to join us in Boston for a lively visioning session in the fall of 2005.

Other UMass campuses have or are developing similar units:

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6. How will the VDC project determine the initial areas of focus?

VDC services will proactively focus on initiatives in a small number of research collaboration clusters. These clusters will be areas in which faculty members have a track record or significant potential for success in obtaining extramural funding and which can take UMass Boston to the next level of research accomplishment. These clusters will be broad enough to enable individuals from a variety of disciplines in departments, colleges, and research institutes across the campus to work together and in partnership with world-class external partners. Yet the clusters will be specific enough that the research and development activities can yield solutions to some of the major challenges facing the world today, help legislators shape policy, and provide new research opportunities for faculty members and for students. Moreover, the clusters must be responsive to research and entrepreneurial opportunities as they emerge in the future. Conversations are currently underway with various groups (e.g., faculty and staff members from each college, research institute directors, business and industry leaders, government officials) to identify potential research collaboration clusters.

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7. How are faculty members involved in the VDC project?

Faculty involvement is crucial to the success of the VDC project. Faculty members have been and will continue to be involved in the design and planning phases of the VDC project through ad hoc advisory committees. Faculty members will be involved in the operations of the VDC project as collaborators, as clients, or as members of the internal advisory committee. As indicated earlier, the VDC project is an outgrowth of conversations of faculty members begun nearly 30 years ago concerning the establishment of a science and technology park involving the purchase and renovations of the old Calf Pasture Pumping Station. Since the establishment of the VDC project in the fall of 2004, faculty members from a variety of departments have been involved in proposals that have benefited from VDC services and projects that have been supported by VDC services. The creation of the youth fitness center partnership between UMass Boston and Children’s Hospital Boston illustrates this faculty involvement and support.

During the spring and early summer of 2006, faculty members participated in design workshops for the Wheatley Hall space. This effort assessed the feasibility of accomodating the VDC program in Wheatley Hall. During the Spring of 2007, faculty members participated in four workshops organized by Sasaki Associates, Inc., the architectural and engineering firm supporting the Wheatley construction project, to identify specific needs, and develop recommendations for the construction phase of the project. Faculty members will also be asked to participate on an advisory committee, which will ensure that the VDC project remains focused on the strategic research priorities of the university and the needs of entrepreneurial faculty.

It is important to understand that the VDC project is not a research center in a college, directed by a faculty member, or a research institute focused on a broad topic of faculty scholarly interest. Rather, it is a business development center located in the office of the vice provost for research that supports entrepreneurial faculty and staff members, as well as students, throughout the university who desire to take their research activities to a different level of accomplishment.

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8. What is the current status of the VDC project?

The VDC project is in a start-up phase. The VDC staff consists of a group of experienced business professionals who have been providing a limited range of VDC services for the last 15 months through the College of Management under the auspices of the vice provost for research. They are currently supporting two center-of-excellence projects—a marine science alliance based in the College of Science and Mathematics, and the Children’s Hospital partnership based in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences—and are able at present to satisfy a limited number of requests for assistance. Requests for assistance should be directed to the vice provost for research.

The VDC staff will have offices in the VDC space that is currently under development in Wheatley. They will provide a full range of business development services that will include business plan development, oral presentation and document preparation, technology transfer introductions, and decision support. The VDC staff will provide access to a network of corporate contacts, technology resources, and operational, legal, market research, and accounting expertise. The VDC services will be available across the campus, not just to those projects that might occupy VDC space.

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9. How will the VDC space be used?

The VDC space will be a showcase facility, one in which our faculty and their peers from the academic or business world will be comfortable and in which they will be eager to participate in collaborative ventures. The hallmark of the VDC space will be flexibility. It will be designed to seize opportunities as the university’s research enterprise grows.

There will be four types of space to achieve the VDC project’s goals:

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10. What are some of the activities that will take place in the VDC space?

An acclaimed architectural firm, Design Partnership of Cambridge, Inc., has been retained by the university to interview faculty, staff, students, and administrators from across the campus to understand how they might make use of VDC services. From this process, the potential activities that could take place in the VDC space will be identified. We anticipate that these activities will include the following:

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11. Why has the Wheatley cafeteria space been assigned to the VDC project?

The availability of the Wheatley cafeteria space presents us with a unique opportunity to design and build the specialized facilities that are essential to achieve the VDC project’s goals. The space will allow us to bring the full range of VDC services together in one location. Including the services of the CVIP licensing officer and an ORSP sponsored programs administrator in the space will create a synergism and multiply the effectiveness of the VDC project. This set of services also will benefit from shared resources (e.g., receptionist, business manager, communications, work-study students) that will be possible only if they are co-located.

The Wheatley cafeteria space has some unique attributes that lend themselves well to the development of collaborative work and lab space. For example, the commercial grade plumbing, enhanced electrical capacity, freight elevator, and ventilation capabilities of the former kitchen and servery provide infrastructure for generic laboratory surge space. The wide-open cafeteria space is ideal for flexible, multi-function collaboration space. The central campus location in Wheatley will provide ease of access to faculty, staff members, and students. And the proximity of the Wit’s End Café will enhance the collaboration resources.

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12. What is the mechanism that moves a project from a faculty member’s office or research bench in a department lab to one that is supported with VDC services?

Research projects might be supported by VDC services in a variety of ways. For example a proposal submitted by a faculty or staff member, or student, to an extramural funder might alert the vice provost for research to a potential project because the vice provost reviews and signs all of these. Referrals could come to the vice provost for research from the provost, as was the case with the youth fitness research and training center partnership with Children’s Hospital Boston. Deans or institute or center directors could be the source of referrals of potential projects. Projects may be spotted in the University Reporter and followed up by the members of the VDC staff. Informal conversations between faculty and staff members and members of the VDC or ORSP staff at a meeting, in the hallways, at lunch, or over coffee might provide a promising lead.

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13. How do VDC services differ from ORSP services?

The VDC services and the ORSP services provided to the university research community are very different but complementary. ORSP services focus on sponsored programs administration, whereas VDC services focus on business development. The professional staff members of both offices work together as a team, coordinating their efforts to ensure customers are well served regardless of which office provides the services. The two offices, both of which are accountable to the vice provost for research, will establish service protocols to avoid duplication of effort.

The ORSP is the centralized unit of the university charged to coordinate sponsored program activities campus-wide. ORSP assists with the preparation and submission of competitive proposals to extramural sponsors, establishes all grant and contract awards to the university, and provides guidance on the financial management of sponsored projects. The office also administers the university’s programs of compliance, manages communications that publicize and celebrate the successes of the research enterprise, and coordinates an array of sponsored program education and training programs.

VDC services focus on the identification and support of ventures that have the potential to increase revenue flowing to the university from extramurally funded grants, corporate sponsored research agreements, mission-related fee for service contracts, and entrepreneurial initiatives that transform intellectual property arising from research into commercially valuable and socially useful products via technology transfer.

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14. How will the VDC services generate revenue for the university?

The VDC staff will apply business thinking to all the activities it supports. Some activities will prove successful, and some will not, and it may take several years to achieve success in some cases. Among the ways the VDC services will generate revenue for the university are these:

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15. What is the next evolutionary step for the VDC project?

We are confident the VDC project will prove its value and begin to outgrow the Wheatley space. The longer-term plan is to pursue, either through new construction on campus or the acquisition of land adjacent to our campus, a research and development center that will support UMass Boston’s commitment to partnering with businesses and other institutions. This facility can be considered a Phase II facility to which projects of the Phase I facility (the VDC project) can be transferred as they demonstrate their potential for success.
What are the questions about the VDC project that remain to be answered?
The physical space in Wheatley that will bring together the various elements of the VDC project will not be available until late 2007, even though some of the VDC services are available now (e.g., business planning, market analysis, GIS core research facility, technology transfer). Between now and then, the VDC project planning group will continue to engage stakeholders in the identification and response to questions related to the function and operations of the VDC project.

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16. What are the research collaboration clusters that will be the initial focus of VDC services?

In concert with the updating of the university’s strategic plan, the university retained the services of an expert and objective third party, the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice, a global leader in research, science, and technology development, to assess UMass Boston’s core competencies – those focused areas where there is a critical mass of activity in research, talent generation, and unique facilities – and help inform the focus for VDC services.

Battelle undertook extensive interviews with key researchers and administrators, as well as external stakeholders and leaders of industry and other organizations in the region, and gathered critical information on the university’s core research competencies, talent generation capacity, and competitive position regionally and nationally.

Battelle identified the following eight specific areas of opportunity taking into account not only the university’s current strengths in research, but also its capabilities in talent generation and service activities:

Battelle believes that the first four of these areas offer the greatest potential for the VDC to connect collaborative research strengths with external funding opportunities, contribute to the development needs of the region, and further the university’s research reputation and recruitment of students and faculty. Battelle emphasized, however, that it will be through making connections between and among all of these areas (e.g., urban health, community studies, and biological systems) that future growth and contributions of the research enterprise can best be achieved.

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17. What mechanisms will ensure that the VDC project remains focused on the strategic research priorities of the university and the economic development needs of the Greater Boston community?

A process will be undertaken periodically to update the specific areas of opportunity identified by Battelle for enhancing the research enterprise at UMass Boston, taking into account not only its current strengths in research, but also its capabilities in talent generation and service activities. This periodic update will be used to validate the VDC activities or refocus the VDC activities on emerging opportunities.

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18. What are the metrics that will be used to evaluate the success of the VDC project and how will the necessary data be collected and processed?

The VDC’s objective is to assist investigators and their external partners to form creative alliances, compete for major new funding, establish new crosscutting research centers, and protect and commercialize intellectual property. The vice provost for research will continually ask the following questions about VDC progress in consultation with the faculty:

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19. What are the questions about the VDC project that remain to be answered?

Among the questions that remain to be answered are these: