Through a new partnership with Launch Factory, a San Diego-based venture studio and early-stage fund, San Diego State University enhances the resources available on campus to accelerate the transformation of innovations from university researchers’ discoveries into impactful startup companies.

Members of Launch Factory will hold office hours within SDSU’s Division of Research and Innovation, getting a first look at new, emerging technologies from SDSU labs. The Launch Factory team will support the maturation of these technologies, making them more appealing for commercial licensing and potential investors.

“This partnership with Launch Factory is a wonderful addition to the tool kit of San Diego State University’s innovation ecosystem, said Hala Madanat, SDSU vice president for research and innovation. “Together, we hope to spin out more successful startup companies, simultaneously opening up researchers’ entrepreneurial options and benefitting the regional economy.”

Launch Factory’s startup studio model supports building business-minded teams around scientific founders, in turn making the ideas more investable and more likely to succeed as startup companies.

Launch Factory partner Alessandro Rinaldi sees SDSU’s research base as a natural fit for that approach.

“SDSU has deep research strengths in areas where San Diego can build important new companies. Launch Factory’s role is to help connect those discoveries to market problems, entrepreneurial talent and early capital so more SDSU innovations can become venture-backable startups,” he said.

The promising new partnership came about because of an SDSU connection. Launch Factory was started by SDSU alumnus Brad Chisum, a seasoned entrepreneur who sold Lumedyne Technologies to Google and co-founded EyePop.Ai with SDSU supporter Andy Ballester.

Chisum and Rinaldi have provided helpful evaluations of SDSU faculty proposals for up to $45,000 from the university’s Pilot Innovation Fund for several years. The formalized Launch Factory partnership builds on this longstanding relationship and provides the opportunity for a more bidirectional exchange with SDSU researchers, particularly in engineering and physical sciences.

SDSU has seen recent success with commercial ventures and industry-sponsored research projects licensing patented advanced materials and other deep tech.

“SDSU’s objective is to become best-in-class for spinouts,” said Tommy Martindale, who directs the university’s intellectual property protection and commercialization efforts. “This partnership with Launch Factory opens new doors to venture capital investment and startup formation for our faculty and student researchers, spawning new businesses that could transform San Diego.”