The PLUS Initiative
Is designed to unlock a wealth of technological innovations hidden in academia and solves the most challenging problems in research and development.The PLUS Initiative will be established as an incubator investment company by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI).
PLUS addresses innovators’ pain points.
Through PLUS, AUI identifies a pool of promising applied research projects throughout academia and US National Labs. PLUS focuses on under-served and under-represented institutions, and will create an investment fund to provide seed funding to develop those technologies into ventures with products and services for early market deployment. As these ventures mature enough to realize a successful financial exit, invested capital will be returned to the partners with a portion of the carried interest returning to PLUS to support a new pool of promising investments.
The PLUS Structure Will Give Investors:
- License and equity revenue
- Options for altruistic investment
- Global problem-solving impact
- First look opportunities for new tech
- Tech streams with market pull
- Pooled resources and diverse portfolio


Through The PLUS Initiative
AUI will create an innovative and sustainable model for moving promising technologies aimed at addressing the needs for clean air, clean water, clean energy, greater connectivity, and reduced waste, out of the labs and into the market.
PLUS will provide the five essential “C”s for successfully scaling science into a viable product.

Intellectual Capital
Source + Due Diligence + Selection

Human Capital
Technical Teams + System Engineers + Scale-Up Team

Relationship Capital
Access to Partners + First Capital

Structural Capital
Access to Prototyping + Testing Facilities

Financial Capital
Financing for Scaling-Up to a Field Prototype
If you are interested in learning more, please contact us at [email protected]