Mentor4Research Information

Mentor4Research is a mentorship program run by The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences ("IVA", Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademin). The mission of Mentor4Research is to be a catalyst for the commercialisation of academic research results from leading universities in Sweden. The program has a unique setup where an academic researcher gets a hand picked business oriented mentor. In addition to the 1+1 meetings between the academic researcher and the business mentor there are several regional meetings where all participants. Every researcher and mentor team also has access to a Travel Expense Account to allow creating market contacts. The goal of the program is not to turn good researchers into bad entrepreneurs, but to find a balanced way to commercialise. At the end of a program there is a national Summit where selected researcher finalists compete for a Scholarship of 100 000 SEK. The winner is the researcher who during the program has developed the most in the areas of interest and engagement in commercialisation, increased relevant personal business networks and realistic new insights in how to commercialise the researcher's own research results including his/her role. A Linkedin Group, the Mentor4Research Alumni Network Group, allows researcher and mentor Alumni to keep in touch with each other to exchange information and ideas, to get feedback and to promote best practice. This group is also available for all researchers and mentors participating in a currently running program and others supporting these researchers. Selected researchers ranging from Ph D candidates to professors participate in the program. The program was started in 2005. It is today available at leading universities in mid-Sweden, with plans to develop it into a national program. For more information see www.mentor4research.com