University of Chicago – Lab to Launch | A One-of-a-Kind Class for Turning Scientific Breakthroughs into Transformative Companies

The Untapped Potential of Lab-Based Innovations

Scientific breakthroughs have shaped the world’s greatest advancements—energy innovations that power our economy, medical discoveries that save millions of lives, and new materials that redefine entire industries. With the potential to generate immense wealth and global impact, these discoveries hold extraordinary value. Despite billions of dollars invested annually in cutting-edge research, many transformative discoveries never make it out of the lab. Why? Because the commercialization playbook for deep tech is vastly different from that of software startups or traditional corporate strategies.

Lab to Launch redefines how scientific discoveries become market-ready innovations. Unlike any other program—offering an entirely new approach to deep-tech commercialization that blends business strategy with cutting-edge scientific research. This highly regarded class gives future leaders the ability to turn groundbreaking technologies into successful, high-impact businesses. For over a decade, we have refined this program into a training ground for deep-tech entrepreneurs, investors, and executives, with hundreds of students learning to bridge the gap between science and commercialization.

Why This Matters

Companies, investors, executives, and innovators recognize that scientific innovation remains one of the largest untapped sources of wealth creation. Yet translating deep-tech breakthroughs into scalable businesses presents distinct challenges. Unlike software startups, science-based ventures contend with completely different pathways. Success in deep tech requires a unique approach—one that integrates market validation, strategic funding, and risk mitigation at an advanced level.

That’s why we designed Lab to Launch, a hands-on commercialization program where the next generation of business leaders learns to identify, evaluate, and launch ventures rooted in scientific breakthroughs.

A Training Ground for Building the Next Deep-Tech Industry Leaders

For over a decade, Lab to Launch has trained hundreds of students in real-world venture creation. This course takes real lab-based technologies from the world’s leading research institutions and puts them in the hands of elite MBA and PhD students, who are tasked with transforming them into viable businesses. Unlike hypothetical case studies, our students work with actual scientific discoveries—material innovations, new energy technologies, bioengineering advancements—and navigate the process of turning them into high-growth ventures.

What Makes This Course Truly Different:

• Unparalleled Access to Cutting-Edge Technologies – Teams work with pre-vetted discoveries sourced from top-tier research labs, alongside a PhD scientist who provides deep technical insights.
• A Hands-On Approach to Market Execution – Students analyze market applications, determine commercialization pathways, and develop foundational business plans, setting them up to launch real-world ventures.
• Direct Access to Leading Investors and Industry Experts – Through high-profile guest lectures, mentors, and direct engagement with research and executives, students receive hands-on guidance from some of the top people in the field.
• A Pathway to Founding Real Companies –Students may go beyond the classroom to turn their business ideas into venture-backed startups, with opportunities to become founding team members.

Collaborating with the World's Top Research Institutions

Lab to Launch provides students with access to technologies from some of the most prestigious research institutions, including the Princeton University, Carnegie Mellon University, The Wistar Institute, Northwestern University, Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL), University of Chicago, The Ohio State University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Georgia Institute of Technology, and GTI Energy.

Led by Industry-Leading Venture Capitalists

This isn’t just an academic exercise—it’s a real-world, venture-building experience taught by leading experts who have built and backed billion-dollar companies.

• Jason Blumberg – Co-founder and Managing Director at Earth Foundry, recognized as one of the top energy and cleantech VC firms backing revolutionary technologies that reshape the energy and climate landscape.
• Keith Crandell – Co-founder and Managing Director of ARCH Venture Partners, one of the world's premier VC firms with $10B under management, credited with creating 30+ IPOs and some of the most significant breakthroughs in biotech and advanced materials.

Why This Matters for the Future of Innovation

If we want to solve the world’s most pressing challenges—climate change, sustainable energy, advanced materials, biotech—we need leaders who understand how to bridge science and business at the highest level. This course doesn’t just teach students how to build companies—it trains the next generation of venture investors, corporate strategists, and deep-tech entrepreneurs who will shape the future of innovation.

For students that aspire to build the next breakthrough deep-tech startup, be a corporate leader driving major new vectors of growth, or be an investors backing the next unicorn — this course provides an exclusive look at how frontier technologies are transformed into world-changing businesses.

Let’s Build the Future

At the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, we are not just talking about commercializing science—we are training the elite innovators who will do it. If you’re serious about the future of deep-tech entrepreneurship and venture investment, this is where it starts