OMAHA, Neb. (Aug. 22, 2018)—The University of Nebraska is joining a regional partnering platform that hopes to link Nebraska innovations and startups with seasoned entrepreneurs and executives. UNeMed, the technology transfer and commercialization office for UNMC and UNO, will use the platform to help advance startups that began as Nebraska innovations and discoveries.

The platform is called the Midwest Executives-on-Roster or Midwest XOR for short. The University of Kentucky led in the creation of the platform.

Midwest XOR is a collaboration between regionally-partnered Midwest universities to broaden access to experienced entrepreneurial talent and facilitate matching of that talent to university-affiliated startups in need of executive management.

“Having access to broad range of entrepreneurs gives us an advantage,” UNeMed president and CEO Michael Dixon said. “And when it comes to advancing technologies that stand to improve the lives of people everywhere—not to mention the local economic impact—we’re going to take every advantage we can get.”

Every participating university has a research scope that is broader than its immediately accessible entrepreneur talent network, and there exists a need to better match university startup companies not just with talent, but with talent having experience and relationships in different industries. By combining the entrepreneur talent networks of all participating universities, startup companies can access a larger talent pool and have a greater chance of finding fundable executive management and ultimately succeeding. Similarly, Midwest XOR entrepreneurs that may be looking for their next move will now have an opportunity to review a larger pipeline of opportunities in a central and user-friendly space.

More than 70 select entrepreneurs will have access to the platform, and can search through the profiles of more than 50 initial university startups in the system. Additional interested entrepreneurs may access the platform through an application and qualification process. The University of Nebraska is joined on the platform by the following universities: Indiana University, Notre Dame University, Ohio State University, Ohio University, Oklahoma University, University of Chicago, University of Cincinnati, University of Louisville and University of Minnesota.For more information about the Midwest XOR, please contact midwestxor@uky.edu or visit https://www.research.uky.edu/office-technology-commercialization/executives-roster-xor.