Volume 29 · Number 3 · Spring 2012
Promoting technology
UC†Davis is putting a higher value on moving ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace ó with an approach that goes beyond counting patents and licenses.
A 2010 report from the chancellor's Blue-Ribbon Committee on Technology Transfer and Commercialization notes that "the true benefits of research are realized when the science is converted into practice."
Top recommendations include:
- Providing opportunities for faculty, staff and students to develop and demonstrate the commercial value of their inventions.
- Making it easier for faculty to get involved in technology transfer and commercialization.
Improving Society
UC Davis has launched a new interdisciplinary institute devoted to education, research and outreach in innovation and entrepreneurship, with the help of a $5 million commitment from alumni Mike and Renée Child.
The Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship will strengthen the coordination of entrepreneurship and innovation activities across UC Davis' colleges, schools, centers and organized research units, becoming the university's unifying structure for these pursuits. It builds on the efforts at the UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship, which since 2006 has helped researchers and students move their innovations and ideas into the marketplace.
Patents, inventions and connections
UC Davis InnovationAccess provides services that connect research to the marketplace and are focused specifically on protecting and commercializing intellectual property and fostering entrepreneurship within the campus community. Since 2005, InnovationAccess has produced 584 agreements with companies related to licensing of UC Davis intellectual property, and has generated more than $59 million in licensing income.
The Office of Corporate Relations serves as the front door to university resources for corporations and businesses. The office helps build comprehensive and strategic partnerships with industry through research collaborations.
Elsewhere, engineering researchers can take advantage of the Engineering Translational Technology Center on campus, which assists faculty in establishing startup companies. There is also the Northern California Nanotechnology Center, which provides the lab setting and resources for scientists to develop products in nanotechnology.
Learn more:
- InnovationAccess
- Office of Research
- Office of Corporate Relations
- Engineering Translational Technology Center
- Northern California Nanotechnology Center
Back to "Making sense of innovation"