The Office of Economic Development is hosting a series of informational sessions about the newly created Commercialization Fund and Gap Fund. The next discussion is geared toward faculty from the Sam M. Walton College of Business and the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. It will be Thursday, March 7, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development, Room 111.

Stacy Leeds, vice chancellor for economic development, and David Hinton, associate director of Technology Ventures, will meet with faculty to share details and answer questions. Lunch will be provided.

The Commercialization and Gap funds are subsets of the Chancellors Fund and provide resources for work that has applicability to the marketplace. The Commercialization Fund will award $1 million each year to help propel technologies with strong market potential to commercial readiness. The spring 2019 application period is through March 31. The Gap Fund will award up to $100,000 to teams that have completed the National I-Corps program and are launching a startup company. Applications for the Gap Fund are accepted on a rolling basis.

Additional information sessions are planned in the coming months. On April 8, Leeds and Hinton will meet with faculty from the School of Art and social science disciplines in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. The office is also planning a session geared toward faculty from the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.