Turning research into start-ups is still in start-up stage at UNL, official says
BYLINE: MATT OLBERDING, Lincoln Journal Star
DATELINE: Lincoln, NE
Two people heavily involved in the effort to turn University of Nebraska-Lincoln research into commercial ventures say things are going well, but there's still a long way to go to match the Stanfords and MITs of the world.
John Brasch, who was hired a year and a half ago to help further that aim at UNL, said most of what his office is working on involves early stage technology that is not yet ready for commercial applications.
"We're trying to move some of this early stuff forward so it can be successful," said Brasch, whose title is associate vice chancellor for technology development.
Characterizing UNL's work as being in the start-up stage, Brasch said there are a lot of obstacles to be overcome to turn research by professors and others at the university into spinoff companies.
One of the biggest obstacles is financing, he said.
While there are a number of federal grants to aid in research, private investment almost always is needed to get a commercial venture going.
Earlier this year, Brasch helped found Nebraska Angels, an investment consortium aimed at helping start-up companies.
But even an infusion of funding does not guarantee a successful transition from research to start-up company, he said.
In many cases, the technology does not have a wide enough application to stand on its own.
For instance, Brasch said, most of the technology licensing fees UNLbrings in now are from agreements with large companies to use a UNL-developed technology, not from companies that were built on the technology.
"Everybody's looking for a Google,"Brasch said, referring to the Internet search company that began partly as a Stanford University project and has grown to become one of the largest technology companies in the world.
"The fax machine came out of Iowa State. Gatorade came out of Florida. We don't have something like that,"he said.
Steve Frayser thinks that's OK, to an extent.
"Google is an exception," said Frayser, who is president of the University of Nebraska Technology Park.
Frayser, who counts five UNL spinoffs currently among the Tech Park's 19 tenants, said the aim of many university-related start-ups is to enhance the value of their inventions and grow enough to get noticed by a larger company that then will buy them out.
In the past 10 years, there have been 15 UNL-related start-up companies of 30 total at the Tech Park.
Frayser said that for every $100million in research an institution gets, it should produce one company, so UNL, which for the first time this year got more than $100 million in external research funding,is doing an average or better-than-average job in that respect.
"Are we knocking them dead? â?¦ the answer is no," he said. "Are we accumulating companies out there that will at some time make a difference? Well, yeah."
Frayser mentioned LNKChemsolutions, which he said is Nebraska's only nanotechnology company, as one of those companies.
It has done work for the U.S. government and Kraft Foods, according to its Web site, and it now employs six people.
Also, according to information from the Tech Park, two current tenants, GeneSeek and I2rd, played roles in the testing process during an outbreak of mad cow disease in Washington state last year.
Though UNLhas had limited success so far turning research into standalone companies, both Frayser and Brasch said they see a bright future.
Speaking of the Tech Park, Frayser said, "Iapplaud the things that are going on here."
Brasch said there are "a lot of highly energized people" supporting UNL's efforts.
The university, the state and the private sector all have made promoting entrepreneurship a major goal, both at the university and throughout the state.
On Thursday, the state held its first-ever summit on entrepreneurship, and a Gallup poll released in conjunction with the summit indicated that the entrepreneurial spirit of Nebraska's residents is one of the state's biggest economic opportunities.
University of Nebraska President J.B. Milliken said at the summit that the university wants to do whatever it can to help improve the business climate in the state, and to that end, the university and the state are partnering to try to bring more federal dollars to help build the state's technology-based businesses.
Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.
UNL SPINOFFS
University of Nebraska-Lincoln affiliated companies that have spent time in the University of Nebraska Tech Park since it opened in 1997:
* eGIS
* GeneSeek
* GIS Workshop
* Globabilities
* Highway Bridge Services
* I2rd
* InterLink Systems
* LNKChemsolutions
* MetaLogic
* Orange Peel Inc.
* Production Technology
* Safety By Design
* Specialized Network Systems
* Vitalia
* Xodiac
Source: University of Nebraska Technology Park