P2B and PenNetWorks: Accelerating Ideas to Market
Penn has established P2B (Penn to Business), a Delaware not-for-profit corporation, which will be located at 3535 Market Street, along with PenNetWorks, an incubator focused on e-business and internet technology development. According to EVP John Fry, who will serve as P2B's president, the mission of P2B is:
- to broaden and enrich Penn's academic experience by providing entrepreneurial opportunities to faculty, students, and staff in order to facilitate the formation of new ventures;
- to continue the economic revitalization of University City, and in particular to stimulate the long-term development of properties to the east of campus, adjacent to the Schuylkill River; and
- to provide an accessible, easy-to-deal-with organization that will optimize Penn's economic development activities with the public and private sectors.
P2B will create, in conjunction with other investors and companies, lines of business that will provide specialized expertise and access to capital to members of the University community and broader business community. The first of these partnerships was announced in mid-August when Penn and Redleaf Group, Inc., a technology operating company, announced they had signed a Letter of Intent to form an on-campus Internet accelerator, PenNetWorks (PNW).
P2B will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Penn and its purpose will be to promote and support the University's mission. It will abide by all appropriate policies and procedures of Penn including the Patent and Tangible Research Property policies. It will analyze business development opportunities and create ventures for the broader University community. P2B will encourage business ventures to relocate in University City; pursue funding and support from government agencies and promote resources to area entrepreneurs and companies.
Plans also include Penn EduVentures, focused on e-learning; Penn BioVentures, a world-class incubator focused on biotechnology; Penn TechVentures, focused on commercializing Penn's intellectual property; Penn CorpVentures, focused on corporate relations.
The focus of PenNetWorks is to build successful businesses that accelerate the corporate adaptation of the Internet. The goal for the first year of operation is to launch ten companies, with 15 the second year and 20 annually thereafter. PNW is Redleaf's first accelerator project, part of their "dotDorm" strategy which is intended to move an idea from the development stage to a viable business. Managed by Redleaf and owned by Penn, PNW will provide funding, incubation coaching as well as an infrastructure consisting of space, technology and communications. PNW will complement and augment Penn's Center for Technology Transfer which will channel faculty ideas to be developed. It is expected to be operating by the end of the month. However, those with an interest in pursuing an e-business idea may contact Craig Markovitz at cmarkovitz@redleaf.com or (215) 573-4667.
Almanac, Vol. 47, No. 7, October 10, 2000