UPDATE; Research park's role grows with OU office
BYLINE: Staff Reports
The role of the Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park as a hub of technology-based economic development for Oklahoma life sciences companies continues to grow.
The most recent development is the opening of the University of Oklahoma's satellite Office of Technology Development.
Several spin-off companies from OU's nearby Health Sciences Center campus are located in the park, so it's only natural that the university would open a branch of its Technology Development office there, said Michael Anderson, president of the Presbyterian Health Foundation.
"That's something I've been working on a long time," Anderson said. "I wanted to get them a presence here because a very significant amount of OU's intellectual property comes off of this campus. It's really good if that office can work closely with the investigators right here."
Kennon Garrett, a researcher and an assistant professor in OU's department of physiology, also holds the title of assistant director for the Office of Technology Development at the new location. The office was on the OU Health Sciences Center campus until about three weeks ago, he said.
"This office is the nexus of the Health Sciences Center," Garrett said. "We are trying to bring investigators together and make some connections."
OU's main Technology Development office is on the south research campus in Norman.
The Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park campus has become a satellite location for several Oklahoma entities involved in technology commercialization. The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation has its technology transfer offices right next door to the new OU office.
And in a building across the research park campus, Durant-based Rural Enterprises of Oklahoma Inc. maintains a small office, as well as Stillwater-based Nomadics.
The Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology and its affiliate, i2E, which mentors many of the state's technology-based startup companies, also are in the park.
A private company, Alpha-Bio Partners, also is there.