A promising idea can be the beginning of a new app or software tool, but turning that idea into something people will actually use takes more than a smart concept.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HIIE) is opening applications for the third cohort of its Blazer App Accelerator (BAA), a program designed to help UAB faculty, staff and students move software and app-based ideas from early stages toward commercialization.
Through partnership with Harmony Venture Labs (HVL), the HIIE supports BAA participants in gaining practical experience, testing their ideas, understanding potential users and developing a path toward bringing their products to market.
The program is divided into two four-week courses. The first, focused on early-stage development, helps participants determine whether their idea addresses a real need and begin developing a prototype. Participants who complete the first course can apply to continue in the second, which focuses on developing an initial product, reaching potential customers, and creating a strategy for growth.
The BAA is designed to give innovators a clearer path forward while their ideas are still being developed. Participants who complete both courses are encouraged to apply for the HIIE’s Blazer Bridge Fund, which provides up to $50,000 to help advance promising UAB technologies.
The program has already helped several participants take their ideas further. Three members of the first BAA cohort went on to receive the Blazer Bridge Fund award in 2025 and one in 2026.
Kristine Lokken, Ph.D., from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, who invented a hybrid program designed to help prevent cognitive decline, said participating in the BAA gave her the knowledge and momentum to take a creative idea and begin turning it into something that could directly support patients.
“Through the BAA, I gained a practical foundation in app development,” Lokken said. “I then secured seed funding through the HIIE BBF, and I am now collaborating with an extraordinary UAB Precision Medicine team to build a Precision Brain Health (PBH) Companion App. I am very grateful for a program that gives faculty a practical pathway to move innovative ideas from concept toward meaningful, real-world solutions.”
Applicants must have submitted, or previously submitted, an intellectual property disclosure covering the project included in their application.
Applications for Cohort 3 of the UAB Blazer App Accelerator (BAA) are open now through October 16, 2026.
To learn more, visit the BAA website here.
-- Sept. 30, 2026