PuMA Featured in Commercialization Workshop

ACEP'S Pump Metering Apparatus was one of seven products that teams worked to move toward commercialization during the Lean Launch Workshop last week.

The Lean Launch Workshop, based on the Lean LaunchPad, was hosted by the UAF Office of Intellectual Property and Commercialization and the Alaska Center for Innovation, commercialization and Entrepreneurship. Steve Weinstein, a professor at Stanford University and Nigel Sharp, UAA’s global entrepreneur in residence, led the workshop.

The PuMA team members included ACEP and Fairbanks North Star Borough's Ben Loeffler, ACEP affiliate Lee Santoro, and UAF engineering students Reuven Amstislavski and Evan Denty. The fuel monitoring device is currently being tested in homes in the rural community of Tanana.

Other products and concepts exploring commercialization prospects included: a mouse model used for clinical studies, an underwater algal bloom DNA sequencer, a blueberry extract supplement to increase cognitive capacity, a rugged medicine pack and a plant-based pollutant remediation method.

Lean LaunchPad is an entrepreneurship methodology to test and develop business models based on querying and learning from customers. It is based on the scientific method and combines experiential learning with the three building blocks of a successful lean startup: Alexander Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas, Steve Blank's Customer Development Model, and Agile Engineering.

This was the first Lean Launch Workshop held at UAF and is part of a strategy to encourage commercial use of products generated through UAF research. The workshop was sponsored by the Office of Naval Research.