Mind to Market

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A report issued by the Milken Institute ranks the University of Arkansas 77^th in its Technology Transfer and Commercialization Index from 2000 to 2004.

The report, called “Mind-to-Market: A Global Analysis of University Biotechnology Transfer and Commercialization,” examines the process of university technology transfer for its strengths and weaknesses at institutions worldwide, said Armen Bedroussian, a research economist at the Milken Institute and co-author of the report.

“Our ranking in the Milken Institute index is tangible evidence of the progress we have make in commercializing the research performed on our campus. The payoff for the state has been significant in terms of job creation,” said John A. White, chancellor of the University of Arkansas. “The technology transfer and commercialization successes are due to extraordinary UA faculty and graduate students who continue to expand the intellectual and technological capital of Arkansas.”

The index examined different components of the technology transfer process, including the number of patents issued, the number of licenses executed, licensing income and the number of startups. The index values were determined both in absolute and relative numbers, with the relative numbers normalizing for the millions of dollars of research expenditures at a given institution.

“This gives us an idea of which universities do a better job of converting research to outcomes,” Bedroussian said.

The strong showing in technology transfer and commercialization reflects in part the success of the recent Campaign for the Twenty-First Century, which has enabled the university to bring and keep high-quality faculty and graduate students to Arkansas with endowed chairs, professorships and fellowships.

“It’s the graduate students that determine the caliber of research at an institution,” said Collis Geren, dean of the graduate school and vice provost for research. Funds from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation endowment of $100 million have allowed the graduate school to offer competitive fellowships to about 300 graduate students.

Top-notch graduate students and professors develop good ideas that sometimes can be translated into businesses preferably in Arkansas, said Scott Hancock, technology licensing manager for the University of Arkansas. These fledgling businesses need men and women to run them, and capital to get off the ground in addition to a strong intellectual property position. The university, for example, found a commercialization partner in Fayetteville-based Virtual Incubation Co. on a number of technology transfer deals. These projects have also generated sponsored research projects at the university and employment opportunities for students and recent graduates.

The University of Arkansas Technology Development Foundation was formed to support such business enterprises, but funding remains a challenge for launching businesses from the university’s intellectual capital. The foundation is currently trying to raise seed capital for a validation fund for the early stages of development, said Phil Stafford, foundation director.

“We seek to validate the most promising technologies,” Stafford said. “By investing at the beginning, we feel that we can bring about a high-value return on initial investments.”

He praised the Milken report for addressing technology transfer.

“Technology transfer is a complex but very important part of a university’s mission,” he said. “It can offer both the university and the surrounding community tremendous returns.”

“We’ve got a reaction starting to go,” Hancock said. “Now we need a catalyst, and it could really take off.”

For the executive summary of the report, please visit http://www.milkeninstitute.org/publications/m2m.html. The Milken Institute is an independent, economic think tank whose mission is to improve the lives and economic conditions of diverse populations in the United States and around the world.