We often hear the University of Minnesota described as the "economic engine" of the state. From bioscience to information technology to agriculture, the U is indeed a source and driving factor behind many of Minnesota's successful economic endeavors and sectors.
Earlier this month, the university's
Office of the Vice President for Research hosted an event to recognize the innovators at the very beginning of the continuum from research to commercial application.
"It's a key part of what we do as a university, and we want to acknowledge the folks who play a vital role in [the innovation] process," says John Merritt, director of communications for the Office of the Vice President for Research. "They are really the source of the intellectual property and technology that emanates from this place."
In the past two years (fiscal years 2990�2010), 161 inventors from 10 colleges generated 106 patents and 84 license agreements--contributing to the nearly $390 million in revenue over the last five years.
That dollar amount reflects the economic importance of innovation to the state and the nation, and it is a very necessary return on investment that supports additional research at the university. Merritt stresses how critical innovation revenue is to research funding--especially right now.
"As public support declines, as the support of the state in particular declines," says Merritt, "we're looking towards [technology commercialization] revenue to help fill some of that gap."
The university has seen an upward trend in a couple of key measures, says Merritt. The number of disclosures of inventions by faculty increased from 217 in FY2008 to 255 in FY2009. Likewise, the number of patent filings rose from 52 to 66 in that same period.
"We're seeing a nice growth of revenue here that comes from products," says Merritt, even above and beyond the U of M's revenue "home run"--innovation drug Ziagen, licensed to Glaxo Smith Kline (but set to roll off patent in 2013).
Inventors of recently applied research honored at the Feb. 10 event include:
-- Dr. Erik Cressman of the Medical School, whose discovery of a novel treatment for chronic venous insufficience resulted in the formation of the device startup
XO Thermix Medical;
-- biochemistry professor Gary Nelsestuen, who licensed technology in 2008 using modified vitamin K as an anti-coagulant or pro-coagulant;
-- Kevin Groenke, coordinator for the College of Design, whose
desk for architecture students has been licensed to three companies since 2009;
-- Vipin Kumar, head of the Computer Science and Engineering department, who developed software that allows researchers to track the growth and degradation of forests worldwide;
-- and Tom Levar, forestry and horticulture specialist at U of M Duluth's Natural Resources Research Institute, whose technology to protect plants from browsing by deer and mice was licensed to Repellex, which will release the product this spring.
The event also recognized patent and licensing activity from the St. Paul campus, including:
-- Honeycrisp apple trees;
-- La Crescent, Frontenac gris, and Marquette grape varieties;
--
FINPACK software for farm financial planning and analysis;
-- and the technology behind recent startup
NewWater.
Even as it celebrated its recent patents and licenses, the university was finalizing an exclusive, worldwide license agreement with Paris-headquartered biotechnology company Cellectis for gene-modification technology, according to a press release.
U of M representatives will take part in a
MOJO Minnesota-hosted conversation about the other end of the research continuum--the transfer of technology to the market--on Wednesday, Feb. 23. (More on that next week.)
Source: John Merritt, University of Minnesota Office of the Vice President for Research
Writer: Jeremy Stratton