According to a new report by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), the University of Florida helped create 15 startups in 2012, ranking just behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California and University of Texas systems.
“This is a testament to the collaborative relationship between UF’s world-renowned faculty generating discoveries and the Office of Technology Licensing working to bring together the elements necessary to create successful startups,” said David L. Day, director of the UF Office of Technology Licensing in a release. Day’s team of intellectual property managers connects UF inventors and their technologies with the companies that turn them into products.
The AUTM report also shows that in 2012, OTL ranked 11th in the U.S. in the number of licenses and options granted (129). Licenses and options are valuable measures, Day said, because they demonstrate that investors believe an invention or technology is commercially viable.
“University research has become an important driver of economic development,” Day said. The Innovation Hub at UF found in a survey that over 18 months, through June 2013, the Hub created 250 jobs and collected $10 million from private investors.
“This has been a trend for a while now,” said Jane Muir, the director of the Innovation Hub. “We’ve never been fourth, but we’ve been active over the last decade in startups.”
Two of the startups created last year are OBMedical Company and Constellation research, LLC. OBMedical’s first product, maternal-fetal monitoring system LaborView, utilizes a disposable sensor array, sensor interface and monitor interface to measure labor contractions and the heart rates of both the mother and child. Constellation is a medical-image analysis company that uses the OQULUS software system to increase precision and early detection of sight-degenerating diseases.
