Campus technology center debuts
BYLINE: Robert Rogers, Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO - The 20-foot mobile rocket launcher, parked in front of the building and angling skyward, spoke volumes.
An open-house ceremony Wednesday at Cal State San Bernardino signaled the opening of the OTTC Building, a simple name for a facility that houses one of the university's most dynamic programs.
The Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization is a fledgling university department that partners with local businesses and inventors to help develop their products and business models.
The OTTC receives funding from the U.S. Department of Defense's Office of Naval Research, some of which it awards to area businesses and entrepreneurs through competitive grants. The department also works with university undergrad business students to help develop plans for local businesses, said new center director Tim Gerrity.
"Cal State, like a lot of universities, has an economic development role to play in their communities," Gerrity said. "We will help create companies with growth potential so they can flourish in the Inland Empire."
The center will loom largest in terms of business, technology and intellectual development rather than physical capital, said Gerrity, who recently took the reins after leaving his post at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.
Gerrity said one of his main goals as the center grows is to draw more private venture capital and government research and development funds to supplement funding from the Defense Department.
"I want to diversify our portfolio," Gerrity said.
One of the early recipients of OTTC grants is Kelly Space & Technology Inc., a former Norton Air Force Base-based company. Kelly Space's CEO, Michael Gallo, said his company won a competitive grant for $75,000 to develop technologies to efficiently convert hydrocarbon wastes into methane gas.
Gallo, who is also president of the San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce, said the center serves as a catalyst to the area's economic growth, particularly in science and technology.
"Not only are a lot of companies with potential short on capital, they also aren't prepared to deal with the complex environment of trying to garner capital," Gallo said. "OTTC can give both the guidance and the capital to get a company going - they really enable the right companies with initial business development support."
Contact writer Robert Rogers at (909) 386-3855 or via e-mail at robert.rogers@sbsun.com