UWM Research Foundation

Guiding Innovation. Fostering Partnerships.

Attract funding and partners to advance, grow and develop the innovation pipeline at UWM. The UWM Research Foundation (UWMRF) was formed to serve and support UW-Milwaukee faculty and student research through the fostering of corporate research partnerships, igniting UWM· founded startups through programs, funding and education; and leveraging our intellectual property expertise to further support innovation, entrepreneurship and collaboration with our community and worldwide.

Since the UWMRF was founded in 2006, we have continued to evolve and provide new sources of crucial funding, education support for our innovators at UWM.

Key Programs Include:

• Catatyst grants are for research projects with the potential to become products or services in the marketplace. Through generous donors, since 2007, we have provided $6.01M in awards to 114 teams, attracting $46.2M in additional funding, 19 new startups, and 68 issued patents.
• Bridge grants allow UWMRF startup entrepreneurs to reach key new milestones with their product development and attract further investments. To date, we have awarded $450,000 to 12 startups and attracted an additional $15.5M in funding.
• ENGAGE Mentors, established in 2020, to provide a seasoned network of 25 experts for our startups at UWM to tap into for advice, networking and support.
• Startup mini-grants, created with the help of a WEDC grant, to provide small grants of $3000-$5000 to innovator teams participating in the Milwaukee I-Corps customer discovery program to continue momentum towards further product development.
• SBIR/STTR grant consulting, initiated in 2022, to help UWM innovators identify government commercialization funds to support their own invention or to partner with other small companies to conduct applied research at UWM in their laboratories.
• Express licensing is designed to make the process quick, easy, fair, and less expensive so our UWM startups can focus on product development rather than long negotiations.
• Panther Partnering, created to encourage more industry collaborative research at UWM with our faculty experts. The menu of licensing terms for our intellectual property is transparent, easy and provides a win/win setup for both UWM and the company needing research help.

THANK YOU for participating in 414 for UWM Grving Days to ensure our innovators get the support they need! Please consider making a gift today!