Idaho’s Project 60 – Statewide Tech Transfer – an initiative to grow Idaho’s economy

Sorry if we used office jargon on you. Tech transfer, or technology transfer, refers to the technologies developed at public institutions such as universities or the Idaho National Laboratory. These technologies are seen as diamonds in the rough that can be developed into commercial products or businesses. The method of taking a technology developed in the laboratory and spinning it out into a product or business is what we call "tech transfer."

Sometimes the technology developed has uses beyond what the scientist intended, or the institution has no need for exclusive rights. Others can purchase licensing rights for a fee, create a product and sell it.

The power of doing this can be seen in something as simple as Gatorade, developed at the University of Florida and now marketed by the Quaker Oats company. (So don’t let the word "technology" fool you.) That product has brought in more than $80 million in royalties to UF. For the state of Idaho, we see the possibilities of developing new businesses and jobs from our own public assets.

Developing a statewide tech transfer process is one of the projects the Idaho Department of Commerce is working on as part of Project 60.

You can read more about Project 60, an initiative to grow Idaho’s economy, at http://www.commerce.idaho.gov/business/project-60.aspx.

I got onto the Commerce Web site a few days ago and noticed you are using Twitter! How can the state afford to do this?

Full Story: http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2009/02/01/business/bus04.txt