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| A New Attempt to Cross the“Valley of Death”——The“Proof-of-Concept Centers”in the United States and Its Enlightenment to China |
| Xiao Guangling |
| Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China |
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Abstract The“proof-of-concept centers”(POCCs) in the United States aiming to fill the gap between the university research and market requirements, is a new attempt to cross the“valley of death”.The POCCs such as the Liebig Center and the Deshpande Center starting from private donors have explored that the grantees do not leave their university labs and get the center's consultants help for proofing of concept, market targeting and business planning, and then connect with Angels or venture capital, thus taking the first step across the“valley of death”.Since 2010, the U.S.Department of Commerce, NSF and NIH have led the implementation of the i6 Challenge, I-Corps and NCATS respectively, and formed a new situation of the governments, non-profit organizations and universities to jointly promote the development of POCCs.By comparison, the experience of POCCs in the United States has significance for China.There is the necessity and feasibility for China to establish POCCs, and the government departments and universities in China should support the establishment and development of POCCs.
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Received: 15 July 2013
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2014, Vol. 0 
