University Tech Transfer – Seed, then license

In a departure from the standard model for commercializing academic inventions, researchers at the University of California, San Diego seeded the market first by building and distributing a new wireless device from their own labs before licensing the technology to an outside company.

MaXentric Technologies LLC is now shipping the device under a licensing agreement with UC San Diego. The company is producing, marketing and distributing CalRadio I, a wireless Wi-Fi testing and development platform first created by engineers in the UCSD division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2).

Before signing the deal with MaXentric, Calit2 transferred approximately 50 CalRadio devices directly to corporate, federal and academic organizations via UCSD’s material transfer program – with all of the devices built from scratch at Calit2. By contrast, most campus inventions never reach the market unless they are licensed first (either by a startup company or an existing manufacturer). (A link to more information on UCSD’s material transfer program can be found below.)

Contact: Maureen C. Curran
Phone: (858) 822-4084
Email: [email protected]

Full Story: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/19036