UNR/DRI Technology Transfer Office bringing new technologies to life
One of the most exciting things about technology development in Greater Reno-Tahoe is related to the serious attention and professional support given to new ideas that originate in our local educational and research facilities – specifically, the role played by the UNR/DRI Technology Transfer Office (TTO).
Headed by Dr. Richard (Dick) Bjur, the TTO was established to protect and commercialize faculty and student inventions and creative works at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) and the Desert Research Institute (DRI). The role of the TTO includes everything from evaluating invention disclosures and defining what may be “patentable” to analyzing the potential market for individual inventions and pursuing patent, copyright and trademark protections for inventions with potential commercial value. The office markets early stage technologies to potential licensees and negotiates and executes license and option, proprietary disclosure and material transfer agreements. In short, the TTO ensures that every vital technological development that comes out of UNR and DRI is protected and promoted to its fullest possible potential.
In addition to the role the TTO plays in getting inventions “out of the box” and into the market, so to speak, its efforts simultaneously bolster the state’s economic development and diversification strategies. The TTO encourages and promotes research collaborations with private sector companies and generates income to support teaching and research activities at UNR and DRI.
To date, the TTO boasts a number of notable successes. At UNR, a material and procedure for removing arsenic and selenium from drinking water went on to be licensed to EP Minerals, LLC; a sensor technology for security applications was licensed to Nevada Nanotech Systems, Inc.; a software application used to estimate shear velocity from earthquakes or landslides was licensed to Optim, LLC; a potential new therapeutic treatment for muscular dystrophy has been licensed to a company in Boston, MA; and a bovine vaccine was licensed to American Home Products Corp. At DRI, a precipitation sensor was licensed to Yankee Environmental Systems, Inc.; a photoacoustic instrument for black carbon measurement was licensed to Droplet Measurement Technologies, Inc.; and a particulate emission monitoring device was licensed to Baldwin Environmental, Inc.
The TTO is to be commended for recognizing that developing the next generation of cutting-edge technology application is, in fact, only the very first step toward introducing that technology to the rest of the world. The strides the TTO is making in promoting our home-grown innovation is sure to bolster the state’s economic viability, as well as increase our standing as an evolving location for future technology development.
Dave Archer is the CEO of Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, a statewide nonprofit organization that encourages people to start their own businesses and connects them with the resources they need to succeed. For more information, visit www.ncet.org
