Schaerer to help tech transfers to area firms

BYLINE: Mike Pare, Deputy Business Editor

John Schaerer's first day in his job for Chattanooga's Enterprise Center was spent in San Jose, Calif., the self-proclaimed capital of the Silicon Valley.

Dr. Schaerer, the center's director of technology development and transfer, said he attended a meeting about leveraging urban assets for economic development.

That fits his aim of working with Chattanooga-area businesses and matching them with inventions, patents and innovation at regional federal facilities such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory and NASA in Huntsville, Ala.

"It's a good opportunity," said Dr. Schaerer, who came to the Enterprise Center after serving as special assistant to the chancellor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

While at UTC, part of his job was to "bring the institution within the fabric of economic development. I interacted with business and industry frequently," he said.

At the Enterprise Center, which oversees many of the city's tech initiatives, he can take those economic development efforts to another dimension, said Dr. Schaerer, who will earn $95,000 a year.

He'll work to fulfill that aim by identifying the intellectual property spun off by UT professors or by working with scientists in Oak Ridge, for example, and matching those with business interests in the Chattanooga area, he said.

Wayne Cropp, who heads the Enterprise Center, said Dr. Schaerer already had some tech transfer experience.

"Some ultimately will be successful," Mr. Cropp said about the connections with business. "His contacts, experience and relationships will all be utilized to build on the technology transfer program."

Dr. Schaerer said it's uncommon for cities to have an entity such as the Enterprise Center, or a post such as his focusing on tech transfer. "I'd say it's relatively new for a city or county."

E-mail Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com

EDITOR'S NOTE: Audio is available with this story at www.timesfreepress.com.