INNOVATION FOUNDATION WILL FURTHER ODU'S EFFORTS TO BECOME 'SOLUTIONS RESOURCE FOR BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY'

An Innovation Foundation (IF) created by vote of the Old Dominion University Board of Visitors on June 16 is designed to build upon the success of the ODU Business Gateway and streamline processes by which the university, its faculty and its students can participate in commercial endeavors.

"The Innovation Foundation is the next step in ODU's efforts to be the solutions resource for business and industry in Hampton Roads and beyond," said President John Broderick, who proposed the foundation. "The Innovation Foundation now allows the full business application of our intellectual capital, world-class infrastructure and innovative technologies."

Broderick told the board that the IF will:

• Enhance the university's role as a partner with industry in the commercialization of technology.
• Provide flexibility and alacrity in the development of joint ventures, partnerships with third parties and faculty/student business startups.
• Be an entity under which all of the university's revenue-generating activities could be aggregated and managed. Covered activities could include training and professional-development offerings as well as fee-producing arrangements by which outside parties use ODU's buildings, grounds or infrastructures.

The IF will be an ODU-affiliated 501(c)(3) organization and will operate in a manner similar to the university's others foundations, with an executive director and a board of directors.

Broderick said the IF will complement and extend the relationships that the university's Business Gateway, Enterprise Centers and six colleges currently have with companies and organizations. The Business Gateway, launched a year ago as the one-stop shop for accessing ODU resources, will manage projects facilitated by the IF.