Columbia Lab-to-Market (L2M) Accelerator Network Publishes 2024 Annual Report
The Columbia Lab-to-Market (L2M) Accelerator Network serves as a framework to successfully develop, launch, and execute initiatives that help commercialize academic research.
Collectively, L2M programs have supported 672 faculty-led alumni teams in therapeutics, smart cities, diagnostics, AI, medical devices, and advanced materials over recent years, including granting 356 non-dilutive funding awards totaling over $51.6M!
As the 2023 - 2024 cycle winds down, L2M is pleased to share an annual report including a detailed summary of updates on new and existing programs, alumni team successes, and opportunities to get involved.
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Click the dropdown lists below to learn more about our L2M programs
Columbia Life Science Accelerators (BiomedX, TRx. ACT)
31 faculty-led teams participated in the Columbia Life Science Accelerators (Columbia Biomedical Engineering Technology Accelerator, Translational Therapeutics Accelerator, and Accelerating Cancer Therapeutics) for a virtual business validation and life science commercialization bootcamp. The course covered a wide range of life science commercialization topics and prepared teams to identify potential hurdles and opportunities that may arise as they progress through development pathways. 12 finalist teams were awarded a shared total of $755K in pilot funding to advance their research from the lab into commercial markets.
New York State Biodefense Commercialization Fund
In September 2023, Empire State Development (ESD), led by Gov. Kathy Hochul, released a call for applications for the third round of New York’s $40 Million Biodefense Commercialization Fund prioritizing startup and academic applicants developing promising diagnostic technologies, including point-of-care diagnostics, novel sequencing and pathogen surveillance tools, and processes to improve manufacturing and access to diagnostics. In response to the request for applications, the program received 32 short proposal applications, from which a subset were invited to submit long proposals for potential project funding.
With programmatic support from Columbia Technology Ventures and Mt. Sinai Innovation Partners, award decisions are in the final stages of deliberation and expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Materialize New York Accelerator
The Materialize New York Accelerator aims to advance the development of novel technologies in the New York City area, facilitating the transition of technologies from academic labs to startup formation with a commitment to human impact. With programmatic support from L2M, the Material Impact team delivered the MaterializeNY Bootcamp where 11 selected teams participated in interactive learning sessions and office hours. They were taught how to “de-risk” their innovations through customer identification, product-market fit, market sizing, and milestone assessment across their product lifecycle. MaterializeNY focused on teams led by a faculty and entrepreneurial lead focused on bio-manufacturing and sustainable products, sustainable food and water, data storage and security, robotics, AI, and augmented reality, transportation and mobility, and underrepresented healthcare. Learn more here.
NSF Engineering Research Center for Smart Streetscapes (CS3) VALIDATE Accelerator
L2M launched the inaugural CS3 VALIDATE Accelerator Program as part of the NSF Engineering Research Center for Smart Streetscapes (CS3). Six teams from Columbia and Florida Atlantic University were selected to participate in the 9-week program focused on customer discovery and technical development. Two Ignition Awards were granted: to KeeVeeve, led by Columbia Engineering PhD students Mahshid Ghasemi and Jeremy Johnston, and FLOODSENSE, led by FAU College of Engineering & Computer Science Master's students Aishwarya Jawne and Dan Zimmerman. Each team received the top award of $10,000 in recognition of their remarkable progress over the program. Learn more here.
PORTENT Accelerator
PORTENT aims to advance promising point-of-care technologies through: technology development, human validation, user and developer training and rotations, and commercialization. The center is enabled by a one-of-a-kind international network of clinical, training, and device development facilities and unique worldwide expertise in point-of-care diagnostics, their application and commercialization. This includes integrated core clinical and validation facilities across four continents – North America (United States – New York City), Africa (Uganda), South America (Ecuador), and Asia (India), enabling the validation of technologies on a global range of populations and with a unique set of users. In coordination with L2M, PORTENT held a 2-day long commercialization workshop for the center's 4 academic teams on topics ranging from manufacturing considerations to intellectual property. Learn more here.
The L2M Student Venture Associate (SVA) Program offers a unique opportunity for Columbia University and Barnard College students to gain in-depth experience with university technology commercialization and acceleration efforts.
SVAs work closely with the L2M team, accelerator program managers, and individual teams that are part of accelerator cohorts. They provide operational, marketing, and strategic support to L2M and its teams.
We were so fortunate and thankful to have Murun Jargal, MS in Sustainability Management candidate, Emaan Qazi, MS in Applied Analytics candidate, and Olivia Kwon, BS in Financial Economics & Computer Science candidate, join our team for the 2023-2024 cycle.
Murun supported the administration of the Life Science Accelerator Bootcamp and the Business Operations Workshops, Emaan supported the MaterializeNY and Life Science Accelerators, while Olivia assisted with Center for Smart Streetscapes (CS3).
This summer Murun will intern at Altus Power as an Energy Analyst in Stamford, CT, Emaan will intern at Galaxy Digital as a Trading Summer Analyst in NYC, and Olivia will intern at Blackthorn Ventures. We wish them all the best as they continue their academic and professional journeys!
- Mentor, adviser, sponsor, and/or strategic partner interest - complete our intake form
- Prospective accelerator team interest - complete our program interest form
- Investor interest - visit our company portfolio, and/or contact us for a consolidated collection of pitch decks from alumni ventures across the network