McCormick and INVO Announce New Director of New Business Ventures
The McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Northwestern University Innovation and New Ventures Office (INVO) are pleased to announce that Michael Janse has been named the director of new business ventures.
In this newly created position, Janse will work with McCormick and INVO to lead a sustainable translational and commercialization program for science and technology at Northwestern. Janse will lead efforts to identify and assess promising technologies for commercialization, educate faculty and students in the commercialization process, and assist selected faculty in commercialization by facilitating connections.
“This new position will help faculty and students devise strategies to move research innovations from the lab to commercialization,” said Alicia Löffler, executive director of INVO and associate vice president of research. “Michael will help increase the value of Northwestern inventions by advancing them to the proof-of-concept stage and then to potential business ventures.”
“We are excited to have Michael augment the activities encompassed by INVO and the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation,” said Julio M. Ottino, dean of McCormick. “Innovations that never leave the lab cannot help solve global challenges, so we need to provide the resources to help our faculty take that step.”
Throughout his career, Janse has focused on investing in early stage technology. Most recently, he founded a semiconductor technology startup with a university researcher. Prior to this, he was a managing director in Palo Alto with Harris & Harris Group, an advanced materials-focused venture capital firm. Michael was previously a principal with ARCH Venture Partners in Chicago, a venture capital firm that has expertise in starting companies from academic and research lab technologies. Prior to ARCH, Michael worked in Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector as a process engineer. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, and a BS in chemical engineering from Brigham Young University.
The Innovation and New Ventures Office conducts faculty outreach, provides resources for business development, and manages intellectual property rights for Northwestern inventions and innovations.
The Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (FCEI) was endowed in 2008 to help evolve engineering beyond the application of the sciences to the creation of businesses that capitalize on innovations. The center has developed the NUvention courses, which bring together students from across Northwestern to guide them through the entire innovation and entrepreneurial life cycle. The center also empowers students through a business incubator and annual conference.