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Stanford University’s Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) has been working with campus researchers and inventors to put their technologies to use in society for more than half a century. In 2022, OTL launched the High Impact Technology (HIT) Fund to provide custom advisory services and financial support to bridge the gap between the academic lab and the commercial market. In addition to funding, awardees are matched with leading industry executive advisors and Stanford Graduate School of Business interns who help with business strategy and are introduced to strategic partners and investors.

Now through July 10, the HIT Fund is accepting applications from all Stanford disciplines and hopes to attract more inventors from the humanities and arts, social sciences, education, law, and business. Stanford faculty, postdocs, students, and staff working on inventions with commercial promise are encouraged to apply.

“I encourage Stanford inventors to consider applying for HIT Fund support,” said David Studdert, vice provost and dean of research. “In just a few years, the fund has demonstrated success in equipping many faculty with the tools, resources, expertise, and connections needed to propel their discoveries into the world.”

Since its inception, the HIT Fund has supported 32 projects, bringing together teams of inventors, researchers, MBA interns, and external advisors. Several teams have created startups while others are in the commercialization process. Six projects have completed their HIT Fund award terms and have raised nearly $18 million in external funding. Many awardees are early-career faculty who have never commercialized a product or are members of underrepresented groups.

For energy science and engineering Professor Sally Benson, the HIT Fund has been a “game changer.” She and her researchers first began thinking about commercializing their technology for modeling subsurface carbon dioxide storage during the testing phase. They saw that their website was visited more than 1,000 times a day.

“We thought, ‘Maybe this could be turned into a practical tool,’” Benson says. That tool – CCSNet – uses artificial intelligence to predict what will happen when carbon dioxide is stored underground.

The HIT Fund matched Benson with an MBA student intern and two venture capital advisors. The team is now working on finding an industry partner who can test the technology further.

“But for the catalyst and stimulus provided by the HIT Fund,” Benson says. “We would not have had the time or expertise to really envision how to successfully launch a new company in this space.”

Ruike Renee Zhao, assistant professor of mechanical engineering; Jeremy J. Heit; associate professor of radiology; teamed up on using Zhao's device for treating stroke patients by mechanically dissolving blood clots. With HIT Fund’s help they formed a startup company after conducting animal testing.

“Nitin is a perfect example of what you need for this to work,” Heit says referring to Director Nitin Parekh. “We’re a physician and a scientist... there’s a huge knowledge gap.”

Debbie G. Senesky's Extreme Environment Microsystems Laboratory (XLab) team began thinking about commercialization when an outside company asked about licensing magnetic field sensor technology they developed.

“Working with the HIT Fund demystified business aspects... given us time... resources...” she says.

Yunzhi Peter Yang applied his bioactive 3D-printed bone grafting technology after hearing what HIT offered.

“The HIT program acts as catalyst for PIs... transforming patent-based technologies into market-ready innovations,” he says.

As it enters its third application cycle Parekh reaches out across campus fields from life sciences/engineering/humanities etc., urging researchers interested in commercialization but unsure where/how-to-start should reach out.

“If you’re interested in commercialization but don’t know where-to-start reach out we may help find opportunity making sense/making difference,” he says.

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