OHSU Technology Transfer achieves record year for industry-sponsored research

Research

Oregon Health & Science University’s Technology Transfer and Business Development team completed a record number of industry-sponsored research agreements, 118, during fiscal 2011. Those agreements provided more than $12 million in awards for scientists, the highest amount recorded by the university’s research community. In the past five years, industry-sponsored research has resulted in more than $44 million in awards from more than 475 completed agreements.

“The increase in industry collaborations paralleled the expansion of our business development efforts,” said Tim Stout, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., OHSU vice president for Technology Transfer and Business Development.

Stout added that these efforts, which were led by Abhijit Banerjee, Ph.D., M.B.A., “have engaged our research community in active partnerships with industry and, through the research consortium program, our business development team has identified and matched internal expertise, optimizing cooperative resources for potential business partners.”

Stout also noted that in addition to the industry collaboration agreements, the office processed a record number of material transfer agreements (466) and nondisclosure agreements (117). Breaking down the numbers that means the office, which has recently expanded its staff to handle the growth of innovation at the university, processed nearly 750 agreements during the year, averaging about three agreements each business day.

OHSU recognizes the value of commercialization for its technologies and intellectual property with the ultimate goal of bridging the gap between promising research and public benefit. The TTBD office licenses OHSU's intellectual property, links business with OHSU-developed technologies and expertise, negotiates industry research collaborations and launches companies based on the work done at OHSU. Discoveries from OHSU laboratories expand the economy and improve overall health and quality of life.

Among the achievements during the 2011 fiscal year was the creation of three start-up companies based on OHSU research. These companies pushed the total number of OHSU startups to nearly 75 since the early 1970s. In the past five years, an average of nearly four start-up companies per year has developed out of OHSU research. Of the 18 companies that emerged during that time, 15 currently operate in Oregon, bringing new discoveries to market and contributing to the region’s economic development.

The three OHSU startups created in fiscal 2011 are:

Included among the university’s other commercialization successes in the past fiscal year were:

One hundred seventeen nondisclosure, or confidentiality agreements, were signed. Nondisclosure agreements govern how recipients, generally businesses, can use proprietary information provided by an OHSU researcher to protect patent rights. The increase in nondisclosure agreements reflects the open and collaborative nature of OHSU faculty in working with colleagues in industry as well as other academic institutions.

The OHSU Office of Technology Transfer and Business Development compiled the university’s fiscal 2011 results. TTBD supports the university’s research community by collaborating with industry to facilitate research, license promising discoveries and create new companies. For more information about TTBD and Innovation at OHSU, go to www.ohsu.edu/techtransfer.

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