At a time when the University of Utah is tapping the philanthropic community to fund scholarships and buildings for research, academics, athletics and cultural amenities, the school this week added another request: funding for technology commercialization.
Money donated to a new Gateway Crimson Innovation Fund will help push university inventions, such as medical devices and treatments, drugs, energy technologies and software, into the marketplace.
Officials are seeking "venture philanthropists" to kick in $2 million in the fund’s first year, according to a press release issued Thursday.
The money will also be used to enhance education, since students are deeply involved with commercializing U. technologies, according to vice president for institutional advancement Fred Esplin. The press release, however, emphasized non-educational needs: securing patents; further research and development; creating prototypes; hiring management teams; and crafting marketing materials.
Funding for such activities historically comes from the University of Utah Research Foundation, a subsidiary non-profit that owns the U.’s portfolio of intellectual property arising from mostly federally funded research. The foundation reaps millions each year in royalties and licensing fees, which is dispersed to faculty inventors and their departments and supports commercialization. Salt Lake Tribune
