University of Washington
"I have enjoyed working with the CoMotion team ...
Their high level of responsiveness and preparation have enabled IP Group Inc. to complete deals quickly and efficiently.” - John Fijol, Director, Systems Technologies, IP Group
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Partner with Us

CoMotion partners with university departments, companies, nonprofits, investment groups and individuals who support our mission of guiding UW innovations from idea to impact. Please find our current partners below and contact us to learn how to become a UW CoMotion partner.

Current partners

Amazon Catalyst is an award program that helps UW students, staff, and faculty launch their big ideas with social impact. It’s open to all current students, faculty, and staff at the Seattle, Bothell, and Tacoma campuses. Offered through a collaboration between Amazon and UW CoMotion, Amazon Catalyst awards up to $10,000. Winners join a community of innovators—Amazon Catalyst Fellows—who share a passion for building solutions to real-world problems. Read about the 2019 Amazon Catalyst Fellows on our blog.

In the fall of 2018, BECU, Washington’s largest community credit union, partnered with CoMotion, the University of Washington’s collaborative innovation hub, to create a fintech hub in the Seattle region, which included the launch of the BECU FinTech Incubator at CoMotion Labs. The collaboration combines BECU’s expertise in financial services, data analysis, and customer experiences with CoMotion’s strengths in incubation, partnership, innovation, company formation, and technology commercialization.

In support of our vision and member companies, the Bluetooth SIG expands Bluetooth technology by fostering member collaboration to create new and improved specifications, drives global Bluetooth interoperability through a world class product qualification program, and grows the Bluetooth brand by increasing the awareness, understanding, and adoption of Bluetooth technology.

The University of Washington and Challenge Seattle — a private sector initiative of 17 of the Seattle region’s CEOs — are committed to advancing our region’s economy and our quality of life by helping to build the transportation system of the future. They have partnered to create the Mobility Innovation Center, a multi-disciplinary Center that will bring together the region’s leading expertise from the business, government, and academic sectors to use technology and innovation to find transportation solutions.

Fenwick & West LLP  sponsors numerous CoMotion programs and events, including our Fundamentals for Startups Fridays lecture series. Partner Andrew Albertson has provided valuable insights to the community with this presentation, “Top 10 Ways to Screw Up Your Startup”.  The firm provides comprehensive legal services to technology and life sciences clients of national and international prominence. Watch Andrew’s video from Fundamentals For Startups on our Startup Training Videos page.

IP Group was set up with a mission to bridge the gap between cutting edge scientific innovation and commercialization, giving some of the best technological inventions the tools to succeed. The Group helps create, build and support outstanding intellectual property-based companies on the journey to commercialization. IP Group Inc. was formed in 2013 to pursue a customized commercialization strategy for the North American market, based on non-exclusive partnerships with research institutions.

United Parcel Service (UPS), the world’s largest package delivery company and a provider of supply chain management solutions, is a proud sponsor of networking events at CoMotion Labs, such as Taco Tuesdays, in support of the local startup ecosystem. These events provide opportunities to connect with the brightest minds of the Seattle entrepreneurial community and benefit from the nexus of innovation at University of Washington and CoMotion Labs. See our events calendar for more.

Osage University Partners (OUP) invests in startups developing pioneering technologies in partnership with the top research institutions in the US and abroad. Through a deep relationship with the Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) of over 100 universities, they’ve backed over 90 of the best and most exciting companies based on university research. They work with entrepreneurs, scientists, and students who are integral to the university startup ecosystem’s success.

Washington Research Foundation supports innovation at any stage, operating at the intersection of academic research, technology development, public and private investment, philanthropy and industry. They are a major contributor to UW’s CoMotion Innovation Fund funding program that targets research and technologies with strong commercial potential and have contributed more than 500 individual grants to the University of Washington..

Key UW programmatic partners

CoMotion also works with a number of University of Washington partners across campus including the Arthur W. Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, Population Health and the Undergraduate Research Program. Learn more about these partnerships below, and please contact us to learn how you can partner with CoMotion.

The Arthur W. Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship through the Foster School of Business partners with CoMotion in many ways. CoMotion supported startups are encouraged to participate in their competitions which include the Dempsey Startup Competition, the Alaska Airlines Environmental Innovation Challenge (EIC), and the Hollomon Health Innovation Challenge (HIC). Other collaborative efforts include programs such as I-Corps, and there are numerous startup resources, entrepreneurship events and career support such as the UW Startup Job Fair.

The Population Health Initiative and CoMotion jointly fund, at $25,000 each, a winning project from the applicants of the CoMotion Innovation Gap Fund and that supports the vision of both units. The applicants for this funding go through CoMotion’s Innovation Gap Fund process, and funding decisions are jointly made by the Population Health Initiative and CoMotion. This funding track began in May 2018 and is offered each spring. The first two recipients include last year’s NatureCollections, led by Katie Davis, with support from mentor Patrick Gray and Innovation Manager Laura Dorsey, and this year’s “Non-invasive ultrasonic clearing of implanted catheters” leb by UW assistant professor of Neurological Surgery, Jason Hauptman and UW professor of Neurological Surgery and UW Bothell professor of Engineering and Mathematics, Pierre Mourad.

The Washington Entrepreneurial Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hub (WE-REACH) is a public/private partnership designed to facilitate and accelerate the transformation of regional health research innovations into market ready products and services that impact health outcomes.WE-REACH is funded by the NIH with cash-matching UW institutional commitments and key organizational partnerships including CoMotion as well as the Institute for Protein Design, UW School of Pharmacy and the Institute of Translational Health Sciences. The WE-REACH team, led by Dr. Rodney JY Ho, looks forward working with our stake holders, mentors, and supporters to foster a growing community of biomedical innovators.

The University of Washington Undergraduate Research Program partners with CoMotion to offer opportunities to undergrad students such as the CoMotion Mary Gates Innovation Scholar program. This program provides opportunities for a select number of students to gain full-time experience learning about the innovation process by spending the summer as an intern with faculty-led initiatives to transfer university research to real-world impact. Learn more about how to apply and past recipients.