The Austen BioInnovation Institute together with the University of Akron Research Foundation has won a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration. The funds will support a project that ‘speeds the time required to take new technologies from the drawing board to commercial application.

The institute was launched in 2008 with $20 million in seed money from Knight, with the goal of encouraging research in biomedical commercialization and improving prevention, treatment and disease management. The institute, named for former Knight Board Chairman and trustee Dr. Gerald Austen, works out of a county-owned building in downtown Akron, Ohio as part of Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s Hub of Innovation.

The Economic Development Administration awarded six grants in this round as part of the i6 Challenge, an effort to spur technological innovation around the country. The winners may be eligible for additional awards from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.