The University of Washington’s Office of Technology Transfer has a new name: The University of Washington Center for Commercialization (UWC4C). “A name can imply a lot about a mission,” says Linden Rhoads, vice provost of UW Tech Transfer. “We hope the transition to the UW Center for Commercialization conveys a proactive, full-service group of commercialization experts committed to long-term relationships with UW researchers.” The UWC4C will strive “to help researchers engage with industry early — perhaps long before any intellectual property has been developed,” adds Fiona Wills, director of technology licensing, who leads the Center’s group of 15 technology managers. “We want to help researchers understand industry needs in their field of research.”
Over the course of 2009, UW Tech Transfer launched a number of new programs, creating a broad set of services to support the migration of technology from research labs to commercial endeavors. An entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) program brought its first class of business executives to campus to provide faculty and researchers with expertise in assessing opportunities and applications for innovations. The Office also partnered with the Technology Alliance to launch an innovation showcase, which promoted technologies ready for commercialization to the angel and venture investment communities. A gap funding program already has helped two UW start-ups to win Small Business Innovation Research grants and other researchers to win commercialization grants. In addition, Rhoads created an IP management group, led by a former patent attorney, and hired patent agents so the office could work with researchers proactively to map out the IP landscape around their research.
LaunchPad Services, the department that had been led by Janis Machala, a long-time “mentor capitalist” in the region, also is changing its name to the UWC4C’s New Venture Group. The UWC4C is recruiting directors for the New Ventures Group who have expertise in starting biotech and IT/clean tech companies.
Source: University of Washington