U of Chicago commits $20 million to new deep tech initiative
That funding will help launch new accelerators in data science, clean tech, and life sciences.
The University of Chicago (UChicago) is making significant financial investments in a new initiative named “Polsky Deep Tech Ventures” that that builds on the success of the Booth School of Business’ New Venture Challenge and Duality, the nation’s first quantum start-up accelerator.
The endeavor will be funded by more than $20 million in university and philanthropic investments over the next five years. Once fully deployed, Deep Tech Ventures expects to graduate at least 60 start-ups annually, with novel approaches to fight disease, address climate change, improve cybersecurity and more.
In announcing the new program, the university emphasized effort is aligned with the research strengths of UChicago, Argonne National Laboratory, and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Deep Tech Ventures will launch three additional accelerators devoted to specific scientific disciplines, including data science, clean tech and life sciences. By providing sector-specific expertise from university research faculty and industry partners, the accelerators are designed to help start-ups from around the globe reduce technical and market risk as they position their innovations for real-world impact.
The initiative will be operated by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
