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2018 CFAES I-Corps@Ohio team successful in competitions

Submitted by Shauna Brummet, brummet.1@osu.edu

Congratulations to the three 2018 CFAES I-Corps@Ohio teams on their successful completion of this highly competitive program to explore the market pull for the Discoveries made in their research programs. I-Corps@Ohio is a statewide grant-funded program to assist faculty and graduate students from Ohio universities and colleges to validate the market potential of their technologies and launch startup companies.

This year marks the fourth year of the I-Corps@Ohio program, led and administrated for the State at OSU by Michael Camp and Norm Chagnon.  CFAES has been represented in three of the four years by seven teams – more than any other single College in OSU and a high number for any university overall.  Teams of Entrepreneurial Leads (ELs), Principal Investigator, and Mentors work on establishing product-market fit to validate the potential for successful commercialization.

Our teams this year are working to commercialize their technologies addressing agricultural issues that cause losses in the tens of millions to billions of dollars per year for their industries:

·Biocontrol of bacterial diseases of hydroponically grown crops, such as tomatoes and cucumbers.

·Prevention of frost damage on grape, small fruits, and tree fruits using natural products.

·Prevention of Salmonella contamination of eggs and poultry meat using drinking-water delivered nanovaccine.

Not only has market validation of the unmet needs been achieved, but our students, post-doc, and staff have gained very valuable experiential learning that will support their success in academic and private-sector careers.