Welcome back to another edition of Park Points, a quick recap of news, information, and events relevant to KU Innovation Park’s mission and vision.
Our newsletter has launched! If you’d like to get Park news as it happens, please subscribe here. See what you missed in the first edition. The next newsletter is scheduled for early July.

Growing innovation
Late last week, the innovation edition of Lawrence Business Magazine hit the shelves, full of stories from the Park and a few of its companies.
- Raising the Bar: Read about the history of the Park, its founding partners, its economic impact and future growth.
- Developing High-Tech Security in the Midwest: Learn about the local security world, including Invary’s cybersecurity software, radar sensing research at KU, and Ainstein AI’s radar-based altimeters.
- From Molecule to Market: Check out a sampling of the Park’s biopharmaceutical companies working on human and animal health, including Ligand, Phoreus Biotech and Argenta.
- The Search for Smarter Solutions: Read about the latest innovations from Axioforce, Icorium Engineering Company and VDC Specialists.
- Our Most Valuable Resource: Software development goes beyond the computer lab for Foster Care Technologies, a Park company that provides a research-backed placement system for children in foster care.
The spinout shift
It’s not easy to transition from the lab to the boardroom. A recent article from Global University Venturing highlights some best practices for academic entrepreneurs.
- Mind the gap. Researchers are usually subject matter experts in a particular field but may have a limited range of experience to take their innovations to market. It is vital to recognize those gaps – like communications, sales, financials or even company leadership – and fill them.
- Think outside the lab. Most of the time, research labs are the perfect places for discovery. In fact, it might be too perfect. Ensuring an innovation can work in the real world’s less-than-ideal settings is essential.
- Stay focused. “Where a lot of spinouts fail is not because of the technology not working well, but because they try to apply that technology too broadly,” the article states. Staying focused on one or two tracks and cutting some potentially exciting uses may help facilitate success.
Tapping into resources like the KU Center for Technology Commercialization and other spinout founders – both of which can be found at the Park – can increase the chances of success in getting from lab to market. Park company Continuum Educational Technologies is also working on educational modules for university researchers looking to get their innovative products to market. Stay tuned for more on that front!
Upcoming events & opportunities
- The Park is hosting a Lunch and Learn event about growth marketing on Wednesday, July 17. If you don’t have a big budget for generating leads and sales and have questions about recent changes to consumer privacy laws, this is the session for you. The event is free, but registration is required. Lunch will be provided. Register here.
- Invary’s Wesley Peck is speaking at a Digital Health KC event on June 25 called From Compliance to Resilience: Innovating Tech with Cybersecurity in Mind. Register here.
- BioKansas is accepting pitch applications for its upcoming Startup Pitch Competition. Companies can submit one product or service conceived no earlier than January 2021. Apply to pitch by July 16 by clicking here.
Have news and notes to share? Let Lindsey Slater, vice president of strategic communications, know by clicking here.