Cleveland State University is taking steps to spin more of its research into patents that draw licensing revenue and spur new companies.
Leonard Young, associate general counsel at Cleveland State University, is also the new director of the technology transfer office.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland State University wants to pump up its lagging performance in turning research into economic gain for the region.
The university has established a new technology transfer office, seeking to turn discoveries by its faculty into patents that can be licensed or spun off to create new companies, thereby adding jobs and wealth to Northeast Ohio.
"The truth of the matter is, there has been very little done to date,'' President Ronald Berkman said of the university's technology transfer history. "I don't think there's much of a commercialization culture here now."
Statistics bear that out. The university generates about seven instances a year when professors or researchers declare a discovery, known as an "invention disclosure.''
By comparison, the University of Akron and the University of Toledo average 40 to 50 invention disclosures a year. From 2006 to 2008, Akron averaged $3 million from licensing its discoveries, according to the Association of University Technology Managers.
CSU had $5,000 in 2008, said Leonard Young, the university's associate general counsel and new director of the technology transfer office.
"We're in the market now, we're aggressive,'' said Young, who wants to triple the number of invention disclosures within two years. "The new president wants us to be a major research urban university, and one of the pillars of that has to be technology transfer.''
Young reports to one of Berkman's top officers, George Walker, the university's vice president for research and graduate studies.
George Walker, vice president for research and graduate studies at Cleveland State University, will oversee technology transfer efforts at the school. Walker said he established and oversaw the technology transfer office at Indiana University, while serving as the school's vice president for research and dean of the graduate school.
Strong technology transfer retains and attracts talented faculty, builds relationships with the business community and serves as educational and entrepreneurial experience for students involved in the research, Walker said.
"I have some experience in knowing how important (tech transfer) is and doing it,'' Walker said this week. "I will give it my best shot. We're putting resources and human talents where our mouth is.''
Fertile areas of discovery lie in CSU's engineering school, particularly in biomedical engineering and advanced energy, said Bahman Ghorashi, dean of the Fenn College of Engineering.
Tech transfer typically grows along with a university's research funding. CSU's research dollars averaged over $20 million in recent years, a figure that Berkman and Walker want to increase.
The university is applying for more research grants and has set aside $500,000 to support research efforts, Walker said.
To boost tech transfer, the university just launched a new website, csuohio.edu/research. Young, former general counsel at Ferro Corp., will shortly announce a five-member advisory board of business people to help gauge the viability of the university's invention disclosures.
Stepping up tech transfer is important to the region, said Brad Whitehead, president of the Fund for Our Economic Future, which supports tech-based development in Northeast Ohio.
"Innovation lies at the heart of reinventing our economy in Northeast Ohio and universities lie at the heart of innovation,'' Whitehead said. "Seeing Cleveland State take steps to up its game in this area is heartening news.''