Welcome! The Bloomington Life Sciences Partnership is a collaborative effort dedicated to continued life sciences business growth in greater Bloomington, Indiana - a nationally recognized leading metro area in medical devices, contract pharma, biotechnology, basic research and life sciences workforce development.

Momentum Mentor Network

About Momentum

Mentorship is a well-established method of transferring knowledge and advice from generation to generation.  As Indiana’s health science sector has grown and developed, we have cultivated a rich resource of individuals with a variety of experiences in starting and guiding companies, raising funds, managing teams, and building business networks, all while succeeding and even sometimes failing at any and all of it.  To truly advance life sciences in Indiana we need a market differentiator – a program that will put us in league with other major life science clusters and allow us to tap into both our local expertise and engage large industry through more effective and efficient dialogue.  In Indiana, IHIF is uniquely positioned to be a communication bridge between large industry, the state’s business leaders, and health science entrepreneurs – making sure that the needs of each group are met through facilitated interactions and a variety of targeted programming.

 Programs

Discovery Days

PRIMER

Team Mentorship

 

Additional Information

For Mentors

For Mentees

For Industry

For Investigators

 

IHIF Membership Requirements

Objectives

  • To provide relevant company development assistance to investigators who would like to commercialize their discoveries.
  • To create a program that will assist start-up companies to better hone their business skills.
  • To provide entrepreneurs with access to A-list individuals across the business spectrum who can provide guidance, insight, and access to personal networks.
  • To compliment services offered by university TTO’s.
  • To fill a request for supplemental training and assistance for entrepreneurs raised in the Statewide Strategic Plan.
  • To build a network of Indiana companies that are better prepared and qualified to meet the challenges of a more competitive funding environment.
  • To provide Indiana with a competitive advantage in the life sciences.

Momentum Mentor Networks: A Three-Part Program

IHIF is developing a mentor network to better tie industry, our research community, and our entrepreneurs together.  The programs will encourage earlier interaction between industry and investigators, provide earlier feedback on ideas and company development, and encourage later stage entrepreneurial growth and development.

IHIF’s mentor network will work across three functional areas:

1) Connect the research and discovery interests of large industry with faculty members in the state’s research universities. Discovery Days programs will help industry become more familiar with members of Indiana’s research community and help give investigators more direct context and applications for their discoveries.

2) Provide individual investigators who would like to commercialize their discoveries with access to a customized network of industry mentors. The PRIMER program will provide guidance and feedback at the earliest stages of discovery and contemplated company formation.

3) Work with established entrepreneurial companies to enhance their business skills and build their networks.  The Team Mentorship program will work to prepare entrepreneurial companies to compete more effectively for funding.

The Team Mentorship program will begin enrolling mentors in May 2014.  For more information on this program, please follow this link.

Details of the Discovery Days and PRIMER programs will be announced in the summer of 2014.  If you would like to be notified, please contact IHIF at:info@ihif.org