Most research universities have technology transfer infrastructure in place to help researchers apply for patents and spread the use of inventions such as drugs and devices. Yet most research universities lack similar infrastructure to help investigators scale up the use of non-patentable innovations such as novel healthcare models, behavioral or other heath interventions, and smartphone applications.
The Evidence-to-Implementation (E2I) Award at the University of Wisconsin – Madison (UW) was designed to speed the uptake of non-patentable evidence-based practices by bridging the gap between academic research and financially self-sustaining success in the marketplace. The Award recognizes that one important obstacle to the wide use of research-based innovations is that investigators in medicine, health services, engineering, nursing, pharmacy, and related fields often lack background in the tools of business.
Encouraging the Scale-up of Proven Interventions: A Toolkit was developed by authors at the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research Dissemination and Implementation Launchpad and the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, including HIP Investigator Dr. Andrew Quanbeck. The toolkit contains the (1) Evidence-to-Implementation Award Request for Applications and (2) the reviewer instructions and scoresheet used to evaluate E2I applications. Each document is intended to offer a possible roadmap for other institutions interesting in starting such an award.
View the toolkit