Utah State University’s success as one of the state of Utah’s flagship research institutions is evident in many ways, but in 2009 USU celebrates as a record number of inventions are patented. In fiscal year 2009, after receiving 80 idea disclosures from students and professors about potential inventions, a record number 44 patents were filed and 11 patents were issued to USU, along with 10 commercialized technologies that fall into the “copyright category.”

This is the most ever received by USU’s Technology Commercialization Office in a single year. By comparison, in fiscal year 2008, 62 ideas were disclosed to the TCO, 26 patents filed and five patents were received by the TCO.

 

And while the number of patents received by USU’s Technology Commercialization Office continues to grow, the growth is witnessed in the real-world production of companies licensing USU technologies, creating spin-out companies.

USU spun-out a record number of companies in fiscal year 2009. Two companies, Thermal Management Technologies and Eco Air Tech, were established by USU retired engineering professor Clair Batty.

Batty, the former head of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at USU, is sometimes called a “serial entrepreneur” — he uses the momentum from one spinout to get the next one underway. In 2009, Batty’s company, TMT, was the first to license SDL technology and create a for-profit company. Soon after, Batty created EcoAirtech, a company devoted to environmental impact migration, primarily in the oil, gas and power industries.

TMT’s product line includes channeled cooling panels and flexible thermal links that were initially designed for space applications. However, the technology has broad commercial applications in the aerospace, aircraft, automobile, computer and electronics industries — markets TMT now has the opportunity to fully pursue.

Other USU spinout success stories include Dynamic Screening Solutions, (Inc.,) a Web-based paperless solutions company that streamlines the completion of multiple forms. DSS created the “Utah Clicks” system, licensed by the state of Utah, to alleviate excess paperwork required for application to a variety of state-run programs. Currently, DSS is rolling out a new product — 321Forms — to reduce the headaches associated with completing and processing human resources paperwork.

Recently, the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at USU spun out its first company. Utah State University Archeological Service, Inc. (USUAS), offers services in cultural resource management archaeology and provides employment and thesis opportunities for students in the new master of science degree program in anthropology (with a specialization in archaeology and cultural resource management) at USU. According to USUAS board member and USU anthropology professor Christopher Morgan, USUAS will offer high-quality archaeological services to clients and experience to USU students that other universities rarely do.

In 2006, after seeing Utah’s role in technology development dwindle as companies moved to cluster areas throughout the United States, the Utah Legislature approved then Gov. Jon Huntsman’s economic development plan. The plan would create jobs for Utahns in high-tech fields — and because high-tech industries tend to pay employees better than other industries, state tax revenues would also increase.

Part of this plan was to make way for future growth by expanding technology commercialization offices throughout the state.

Utah State University took this expansion to heart and, in the year since, worked to ensure that more faculty and student inventors made the most of available resources available through USU’s Technology Commercialization Office.

 

USU is committed to conducting the research necessary to ensure the success of patents filed and technologies licensed. Because of a spike in demand from inventors interested in patenting their technologies, the TCO office does it more each year than the year before.  

Ray DeVito, director of the Technology Commercialization Office at USU, is encouraged by the progress made in recent years. 

 

“Utah State University continues to produce marketable technologies that benefit the local and state communities,” said DeVito. “The work we’ve done is making a difference in the lives of the Cache Valley community and in the lives of Utahns throughout the state.”

           

“Strategic Ventures and Economic Development was created in 2006 by President Albrecht, to ensure the cooperation between USU’s Technology Commercialization Office, USTAR at USU and the USU Innovation Campus,” said Ned M. Weinshenker, USU vice president for strategic ventures and economic development (SVED). “I’m delighted to see that vision coming to reality and creating these kinds of results that benefit the university, the community and the state of Utah.”

 

For more information about USU’s Technology Commercialization Office, visit its Web site. For information on economic development, visit its Web site, or follow on Twitter.