The 91探花 launched a record 17 startup companies this fiscal year.
That makes fiscal 2013 the UW’s single most productive year for startup formation.聽 It places the 91探花among the top five schools in the nation.
Last year, President Michael K. Young challenged the university to increase its number of fundable technology startups.
鈥淯niversity startups give the American public a valuable return on their investment in academic research.聽 91探花start-ups deliver impact to the public from our life-changing discoveries,鈥� Young said.
91探花startups are companies, usually co-founded by 91探花researchers, formed around technology licensed from the university.
鈥淪uccessful 91探花start-ups benefit 91探花researchers, the 91探花as an institution and the public,鈥� said Linden Rhoads, 91探花Vice Provost of Commercialization.聽聽 鈥淭he 聽is here to make sure UW’s start-ups have the best possible chance for success.鈥�
The center coaches entrepreneurial faculty, students, and staff through the commercialization process, offering specialized programs at every step.
Rhoads, a serial entrepreneur herself, leads the center’s coordinated set of programs and resources for 91探花startups. In the past five years, the center has increased the聽 funding available for 91探花companies and helped 91探花startups win Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer federal grants.聽 The Center for Commercialization established the New Ventures Facility, a startup incubator in Fluke Hall, and has helped create external forums that allow 91探花startups to seek early stage investment.
鈥淭he 91探花 consistently ranks in the highest international echelons for its research and training,鈥� Rhoads said.聽 鈥淎t the Center for Commercialization, we have a system of entrepreneurial support worthy of the volume of high-quality research at UW.聽 We want 91探花to be known for best-in-class technology commercialization.聽 This requires effective networking in and around each start-up team.鈥�
Entrepreneurs-in-Residence are experienced technology entrepreneurs who work alongside faculty to launch 91探花startups.聽 91探花Presidential Entrepreneurial Faculty Fellows launched successful 91探花startups through the the center鈥攁nd now can advise other 91探花researchers.聽 Seattle’s top venture attorneys coach 91探花start-ups through the investment process, and venture capitalists help fill 91探花startups with the region’s top executive talent.
The center provdes a variety of opportunities involving 91探花students that include:
- MBA interns interviewing potential customers and identifying competing products.
- Law School Intellectual Property externs mapping 91探花technologies against existing patents and assisting in the patent and copyright processes.
- Bridge Funding Fellows performing due diligence on 91探花startups to help them prepare for investors.
- Commercialization postdoctoral fellows advancing the commercialization opportunity of innovations generated from their doctoral research or related efforts.
鈥淭he 91探花has launched into a new level of entrepreneurship.聽 For students, our Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship in the Foster School of Business is one of the top 10 programs in the nation,鈥� Young said. 鈥淣ow C4C makes 91探花one of the top five schools for technology start-up formation.聽 Our success this year comes directly from the unprecedented extent of engagement from our faculty, students, and friends in the Seattle business community.鈥�
The 91探花Start-up Companies for fiscal 2013 are:
- will provide rapid assessment of virulent bacteria in medical clinics allowing for same-day pathogen identification and enabling lifesaving choices for urgent care.
- , pioneering the use of remote monitoring in orthopaedics by developing a body-worn sensor, a smartphone app, and a clinician report that together comprise a system used to remotely monitor patients before and after joint surgery. Their initial product, a knee monitoring system, is currently in use at 91探花Medical Center.
- , developing revolutionary proprietary technology for closing wounds with KitoStitch, used for deep wounds like sutures, fast like staples, painless like a Steri-Strip and easy to use as a Band-Aid.
- , developing cheaper and more eco-friendly material that replaces an important component of LED lights.
- developed a novel marine pile design that can reduce noise from impact pile driving to below injury threshold for sensitive fish and other wildlife.
- , bringing to market a technology that addresses the challenge to rapidly concentrate and purify DNA using a very simple protocol with yields comparable to that of popular commercial kits, but at a much lower cost.
- , has developed a brighter, longer lasting, and safer Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) contrast agent.
- , a software-as-a-service that enables health and wellness providers to easily track their patients’ progress over time through an extensive digital library of assessment measures and use those results to collaboratively develop evidence- based treatment plans with their patients.
- provides a suite of cloud-based applications that increases hospital operating room efficiencies by replacing whiteboards with an automated, information exchange incorporating cutting-edge display technology.
- RGB Hats LLC, released a new computer security-themed card game titled Control-Alt-HackTM: White Hat Hacking for Fun and Profit, created for a broad audience with interests in tabletop gaming or science and technology, and to computer security experts interested in a bit of fun. The game was created to expose people to the world of computer security while they play.
- , offering affordable, cloud-based pay-per-use molecular modeling and related services to the biotech and pharmaceutical industry that expedites the drug discovery R&D process while dramatically reducing costs by eliminating the need to purchase and maintain computer clusters and annual software licenses.
- Second Wind, applies the basic principles聽 of wind energy to convert the air stream of聽 building ventilation exhausts into useful energy.
- , a sensor and services company focused on home safety, security, and loss prevention.
- , developing first-in-class small molecules that hold the promise of curing glioblastoma multiforme (a highly aggressive brain cancer) while maintaining patient quality of life
- , a nonprofit with the mission of nurturing healthier connections between patients and clinicians through communication skills courses for clinicians, launching an iPhone app, and hosting an innovation conference.
- Unnamed, Electrical Engineering 鈥� optical computing in silicon