Innovation Week — which features a series of events that highlight UNMC personnel who have worked to move their ideas to the marketplace — returns to campus next week (Oct. 10-14).
In advance of Innovation Week, UNMC Today chatted with Michael Dixon, Ph.D., president of UNeMed, UNMC’s technology commercialization arm, about his group’s activity in the past year.
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Michael Dixon, Ph.D. |
The biggest news is that we doubled the number of new inventions we received last year, processing over 90. Those new invention notifications led to 77 new patent applications. Increased numbers of inventions and patent applications certainly improve the odds that we will get commercial investments in our inventions. Also we’ve laid the groundwork that could in the next year allow the launch of four or five new start-up companies that have sprung from research at UNMC.
What do you see on the commercialization horizon at UNMC in the next year?
The state recently passed into law bills that encourage private investment from local businesses into research. The state will match such investments, which means local businesses will be more likely to invest in collaborative research and innovation and UNMC stands to benefit from this. UNeMed is aggressively pursuing relationships with local business that could invest in our research and inventions.
What would you tell investigators who haven’t given much thought to commercialization?
Just give us a call and let us buy you a cup of coffee. Don’t worry if you don’t think your idea is good enough. You may be surprised by the opportunities we see for your idea.
What is the key message you want people to take from Innovation Week this year?
The key message is that there is work done at UNMC that stands to significantly improve health care. Our goal is to help make that happen.