Monday’s luncheon celebrating faculty entrepreneurship kicked off Entrepreneurship Week at CU Boulder. The event, sponsored by Faegre & Benson and hosted by the CU Technology Transfer Office (TTO) and the Boulder Innovation Center (BIC), offered insight into the process of taking a technology from a University laboratory and steering it to commercialization. Before the formal program kicked off, those in attendance had the opportunity to peruse posters for several new inventions developed at CU, on topics ranging from building controls that help optimize peak electricity usage to a mobile application that allows the user to share Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn profiles with those in the immediate vicinity.
The luncheon presentations provided an overview of the interaction between the TTO, BIC, and other service providers, as these organizations support inventors in technology commercialization. CU Associate Vice President for Technology Transfer David Allen began by stating that the role of the TTO is two-fold in both securing IP and helping the inventor find the right path to commercialization. Allen noted that the TTO receives about 100 invention disclosures per year from faculty and graduate students at the Boulder campus, of which twenty will likely result in technology licensure and five or six might develop into startups. Tim Bour, the Executive Director of the BIC, went on to highlight the services his non-profit organization provides to inventors seeking to start a company. The process begins with BIC staff talking to the inventor and “understanding their motivations.” The BIC then brings in experts from its network of over 700 advisors to support activities such as business plan development and the attempt to identify a “business driver” who often goes on to become the first CEO of the nascent company.
Kate Tallman then brought two of the founders of TTO graduate ION Engineering to the stage to discuss their experiences: Dr. Dean Camper, who will work as an engineer for ION, and Dr. Doug Gin, who will remain on faculty at CU and likely chair the company’s scientific advisory board. The technology behind ION – which originated in the lab of Gin – is ionic solvents which are able to absorb carbon dioxide. Specifically, the ionic solvents replace water in the amine solutions currently used to capture carbon in processes including natural gas sweetening and carbon capture from coal power plant emissions. ION Engineering began work with the BIC last spring and since that time has formed a company, identified a business driver who now serves as CEO (Buzz Brown), secured a license to the technology from CU (along with a proof of concept investment), and presented at VCIR, a large investor conference. Camper noted the support of the BIC as invaluable as he “had no idea what it took to start a company and put a business plan together” and now realizes “it takes much more than a good idea.” Gin cited the need for some degree of technology validation before considering forming a company, including “knowing [the technology] is going to work and work all the time” (i.e. be recreated in another lab) and that it will “be economically viable.”
Rex O’Neal, a Partner in the Boulder office of Faegre & Benson, concluded the presentations highlighting the development of the entrepreneurial market in Boulder and at CU during his fifteen years on the ground here. O’Neal called CU “one of the most significant technology transfer programs” in the country. Among the resources behind this success, he noted “creative faculty, a user-friendly TTO, a community of friendly entrepreneurs, interest from local and national financing sources, and a robust environment for service providers.”
Entrepreneurship Week continues with a panel on Tuesday morning exploring social entrepreneurship. A listing of all the associated events is available here.
