Program on Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Biomedical Product Development (EI4BPD)

Abstract/Summary
The U.S. is currently facing a drug addiction (DA) epidemic while there is a dearth of innovative
technologies for preventing, diagnosing and treating DA and substance use disorders (SUDs).
The program on Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Biomedical Product Development
(EI4BPD) aims to advance the inception and development of products and services to develop,
scale, and deliver effective prevention, diagnostic and treatment solutions for substance use
disorders by training life science researchers in entrepreneurship, innovation, biomedical
product development and commercialization.
Specifically, this program will: 1) Combine the expertise of entrepreneurship, innovation, DA,
and education scholars toward a customized and unified curriculum in entrepreneurship, early-
stage biomedical technology commercialization and biomedical product development. 2) Recruit
4 consecutive yearly cohorts of 15 fellows, who are U.S. scientists working in the fields of SUDs
research, to receive, free of charge the training on how to foster the development of early-stage
biomedical technologies and how to advance their technologies from the research and
academic laboratory into the commercial world. The selection will occur through a highly
competitive process. 3) Implement the developed curriculum as an educational program
consisting of tailored online (live and self-paced) and in-person educational activities driven by
coaches from academia, government and industry. 4) Create a Community of Peers for all
SUDs researchers and industry experts to provide program sustainability and a space for ideas’
cross-pollination.
The educational program will consist of a kickoff event to promote community building and set
the program’s goals. It will be followed by two online courses on innovation and
entrepreneurship covering user understanding and technology evaluation. The courses will be
complemented by tailored live webinars and online support activities. Finally, the program will
be concluded with an in-person hands-on bootcamp on entrepreneurship and innovation for
biomedical product development facilitated by practicing biomedical entrepreneur and
pharmacotherapy coaches. Each new cohort will be supported by a variety of industry experts,
speakers and coaches that will be part of a Community of Peers, which will grow every year to
keep all alumni connected to support future biomedical product development efforts.

Grant Number: 5UE5DA056914-04
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Cynthia Breazeal