When you think of U.S. universities that excel in creating high-tech startups and spinoffs, which schools come to mind? MIT, perhaps? Cal Tech? How about the University of Florida?
Florida may best be known for its powerhouse NCAA football and basketball programs. But it’s also among the nation’s leading startup incubators, and thanks to a recent Business Week article spotlighting the school’s tech transfer operation, the Gators may one day rival MIT and Cal Tech as a haven for brainiac startups. (Link via University Business.)
The university that didn’t produce a single startup a decade ago had 13 in 2004-2005, according to the latest annual survey by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). That total falls short of MIT, Cal Tech and the 10-campus University of California System, but those universities had better watch their back.
As Business Week reports, the U of Florida is serious about creating business.
The rise is the result of a change in strategy, which boils down to treating intellectual property like merchandise and then marketing these products to targeted customers. In a break from conventional wisdom, the university also shuns its own inventors when it comes to running startups, relying instead on hired guns who have proved they can make a go of business. “Our scientists are very good at science, and they’re at a university because they enjoy research,” notes David L. Day, director of the university’s Office of Technology Licensing. “But I wouldn’t go to my barber for an eye exam. What works best is if they stay in the lab and I go and find a been-there-done-that, made-money-for-investors management team.”
Business Week calls the University of Florida example an “out-of-nowhere success” that demonstrates “there are effective ways to attract capital and nurture campus-born technology industries.” But the success wasn’t accidental. It’s the result of a plan that began in 2000.
Unfortunately, too few universities in the U.S. are following Florida’s example. “Much of American higher education is still struggling to transform ideas into cash,” Business Week explains.
It’s not because of a lack of brainpower or funding. As the Business Week report notes, “University-based research spending has jumped nearly 45% since 2000, to $42.3 billion in fiscal 2005. … Yet the pool of university money earned from license fees has risen at half that pace.”
Florida has clearly decided to invest in business incubation. With a tech transfer staff of 19, the Gainesville university is “in the same upper tier as MIT and Hopkins, though way behind the California system.”
“The licensing office also has an annual budget of $5 million. One of the staff’s duties is to keep tabs on university research to assess what breakthroughs might be worth patenting and licensing. That’s no small task: Florida spent $518.8 million on research in the 2005-06 school year and employs some 4,000 faculty members and 8,000 assistants in its labs.”
Will what worked at Florida work elsewhere? Maybe it’s worth a shot.
Andrew Careaga 