The University of Texas is starting a program called Texas Venture Labs to help students and faculty entrepreneurs speed up the process of starting businesses.

The university-wide initiative is aimed at guiding UT entrepreneurs through the early stages of getting a company off the ground and connect them with business, technology and legal resources in the Austin business community. It also will help Austin companies and investors tap into UT.

The program, part of the part of UT's McCombs School of Business, will have offices at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center on campus. It has received initial funding from McCombs alumni, including Austin investment manager and entrepreneur Beau Ross, MBA ’88. Ross founded PremierHR Solutions, which was sold to Axon Group in 2006.

UT will formally announce the program tonight at a reception at the AT&T conference center.

"We want to be the central clearinghouse for helping entrepreneurs transform ideas and technologies developed on campus into startups," said Rob Adams (right), director of Venture Labs. Adams is on the staff of McCombs' management department and is a director of the Moot Corp business plan competition.

Read the full story from the Austin American-Statesman. For more details, view the official press release from the UT Office of Public Affairs.