The Industrial Research Fund provides a supporting framework for collaboration between the Ghent University Association and industry, through the Industrial Liaison Network. Victoris is the sports business development center functioning within this framework.
The fund can be applied at crucial stages of the development track of valorization-oriented projects to offer valuable support to research results/technology with clear value-adding potential. Various Victoris members were recently successful in attracting funding for the valorization of their respective knowhow and technologies.
Two new Advanced projects were recently granted.
First of all, the team around student entrepreneur Ashkan Joshghani, attracted an extra 250k to further develop and bring to market a new type of sports glove. More info on the Exoligamentz project was already published here. An infographic can be downloaded here. The ambition of Ashkan is to launch a spin-off once the product can go to market.
In addition, the team of Prof. Dirk De Clercq attracted 350k (in 2 phases) to further develop its Lower Impact Runner technology. With this patent pending system, runners receive realtime auditory feedback about the impact they put on their bodies while running, thereby making running style adaptations possible in a very motivational and effective way.
The project is (partly) the result of the EU-INTERREG project Nano4Sports in which researchers and developers from various fields as microsystem technologies, running biomechanics, musicology, internet and data science, etc. collaborated. More info (in Dutch) about this running case can be found here (& more communication material will be developed in the upcoming months). The ambition is to license the technology after the completion of this project.
Last but not least, the Industrial Research Fund approved an extra 100k (on top of the 250k previously granted) to the team of Prof. Wim Derave to make the Muscle Talent Scan available at a larger scale. With this technology, muscle fibers (slow versus fast) can be determined in a quick, reliable and non-invasive manner (as compared to biopsies and lab measurements) using MR spectroscopy. Such results are relevant in different sports in function of talent identification, training personalization and muscle injury risk estimation.
Here is a previous blog post explaining this innovation. An infographic summarizing this project can be downloaded here. The ambition is to spin-out the technology in about 1 year from now.
The Victoris team is extremely happy with the result of the project proposals. With these new financial means becoming available, the ambitions of those reseachers who want to bring their innovations into the real world, can now be brought into reality. Togehter we hope the sports world will be able to benefit from them as soon as possible.
For many of the above described projects, the teams are looking for additional partners, use cases, investors, etc. In case you want to be involved, don´t hesitate to get in touch!
