Wellspring And UNITT Partner To Deliver First Japanese Startup Marketplace

TOKYO and CHICAGO, July 24, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Wellspring, the global leader in technology transfer software, and the University Network for Innovation and Technology Transfer (UNITT), today announced a formal partnership to develop the first ever website focused on marketing Japanese university-based startups. UNITT is the trade association of Japanese technology transfer offices and was established to promote research partnerships between academia and industry and the commercialization of academic research.

The project is coordinated with and will build upon the most recent start-up data published by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) on March 9, 2018. In addition to the METI work, Wellspring and UNITT will collects startups from UNITT member institutions across Japan to post essential information about these companies on UNITT's website. The result will be the only comprehensive database of Japanese high-tech start-ups.

Investors, potential customers, interested executives, and other parties will be able to easily find and engage with these companies on the UNITT site as well as Wellspring's Flintbox.com website, the largest collection of university technologies and startups sourced from over 600 academic institutions worldwide. 

Interest and support for startups in Japan is at an all-time high. The Japanese government has aggressively moved to create entrepreneur-friendly policies and programs for companies. For example, the government recently announced a ¥100B ($910M) venture fund led by Development Bank of Japan to invest in space-related startups.

Dr. Akira Fujishima, President of UNITT, commented: "We are excited and proud to partner with Wellspring to publicize the innovative Japanese university-based startups in order to market them broadly in Japan and beyond."

Dr. Robert Lowe, Chief Executive Officer at Wellspring, added: "Combining the strengths of UNITT's academic community with Wellspring's technology promises an unrivaled technology marketplace. Based on our research, universities that engage in integrated marketing reported 3.5 times more licensing revenue."

The project begins in July and the live website will be available in late fall of 2018. An initial preview will be available at the UNITT Annual Meeting in September.

About Wellspring 
Wellspring is the global leader in technology transfer and technology scouting software. Organizations rely on Wellspring to manage the identification, evaluation, and acquisition of technologies, partners, and investments. Wellspring software supports the entire innovation process, from defining strategic areas of interest to investigating opportunities to commercializing results.

Founded in 2003 as a spin-out of Carnegie Mellon University, Wellspring works with more than 500 organizations worldwide to support tech scouting, IP protection, commercialization, and licensing of emerging technologies. For more information, please visit wellspring.com.

About UNITT
University Network for Innovation and Technology Transfer (UNITT) was established in order to promote the sound development of partnerships between academia and industry, through exchange, awareness raising, investigations and research, proposals, and other activities aimed at helping institutions of higher learning manage intellectual property and transfer technology more efficiently, maintaining a close partnership between institutions of higher learning, TLOs, and the individuals and institutions that support their activities.

Through these activities, UNITT also aims to contribute to the development of Japanese academic research, the advancement of technology in Japan, and growth of the Japanese economy.

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SOURCE Wellspring