You could develop the greatest product in the world — a better mousetrap, a cure for cancer, etc. — but if it never gets to market, it will never do anyone any good.
Companies utilizing the university’s upcoming discovery park, the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative (BRIC), won’t have to worry about that. That’s because when BRIC opens in January, one of its tenants will be the Innovative Business Accelerator (IBA), to be led by Dr. Gregory Leman.
The IBA is a joint venture of the Hankamer School of Business and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research. It exists to help new technology companies grow their business more rapidly by taking advantage of Baylor’s research and intellectual resources and will provide a broad range of business, science, legal and technical services, some of which will come from Baylor students.
“The IBA is built on a solid foundation of our successful collaboration with global industry,” says Leman. “It will become a single point of access to university and community expertise by providing a critical link between technology companies and Baylor business, science, engineering and law faculty.”
Leman, a Clinical Professor at the Hankamer School of Business and director of university entrepreneurial initiatives, had a very successful career as a chemical engineer before coming to Baylor in 2005. He is also the founding director of Baylor’s Technology Entrepreneurship Initiative (TEI), which offers courses in technology entrepreneurship and is followed by a real-world consulting engagement called i5 in either the U.S. or China.
Sic ’em, Dr. Leman!
(By the way, that’s the BRIC facility pictured above — not a rendering, but an actual, recent photo. The former General Tire plant sure cleans up nicely!)
