Six companies were formally spun off from technologies developed at the University of Arizona in the 2010 fiscal year, reports prepared for review by the Arizona Board of Regents show.
That's down from the record seven UA-related startup companies in fiscal year 2009, but the university's technology-commercialization efforts remain strong, the university's technology-transfer chief said.
"The startup activity has been pretty strong, even in a weak economy," said Patrick Jones, director of the UA Office of Technology Transfer.
Jones noted that the number of licenses and options for university-owned intellectual property, such as patents and copyrights, was up 49 percent in fiscal 2010 from fiscal 2009.
Jones said he looks for a strong fiscal 2011 in terms of new startups.
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"We've got a strong pipeline of potential companies for 2011," he said.
Faculty members must gain approval from the regents to hold a substantial interest in a new company. The UA shares in any proceeds of patent licensing through upfront fees and royalties.
UA 2010 startups include:
Energy Materials Corp. (Albuquerque)
Faculty: Douglas Loy, professor of materials science and engineering, and chemistry.
Business: Developing technology for advanced fuel cells for future energy systems.
Valley Fever Solutions Inc.
Faculty: Dr. John Galgiani, College of Medicine professor; director, Valley Fever Center of Excellence.
Business: Developing nikko- mycin Z, a federally designated "orphan drug," as a therapy for valley fever, a debilitating fungal disease
Desert Beam Technologies LLC
Faculty: Optical sciences professors Jerry Moloney and Mahmoud Fallahi and adjunct professor Stephan Koch.
Business: Developing new radiation sources in the terahertz wavelength range for applications ranging from space-based communications to medical imaging.
Yanbor LLC
Faculty: None; founded by former UA staff software developer Irina Yaroshevskaya.
Business: Software development and consulting firm, commercializing the UA's office-management and Teacher Course Evaluation software systems.
Arizona Optical Metrology LLC
Faculty: Optical sciences and astronomy professor James Burge and optical sciences associate research professor Chunyu Zhao.
Business: Services for producing highly specialized computer-generated holograms used in testing high-quality optics.
Amelgo LLC (Cincinnati)
Faculty: Animal sciences professor Robert Collier.
Business: Developing patented technology from the University of Arizona and the University of Cincinnati to improve milk production and animal health in dairy herds.
Taking tech to market
Statistics on technology transfer at the University of Arizona
2010 2009 2008 2007
Invention disclosures* 131 127 103 105
U.S. patent applications 119 125 122 133
U.S. patents issued NA** 11 19 14
Licenses/options 64 43 38 30
Startup companies 6 7 6 3
*Formal disclosures of potentially patentable inventions by faculty
**Not available
