U of M is open for business. Are there customers?

Quantity or quality?

The traditional methods for measuring tech transfer- invention disclosures, patents-don’t mean anything unless you actually do something with them.

Like most things in life, that’s not always an either/or question. Most people would prefer both. But as the University of Minnesota starts to shop its intellectual property a little more aggressively to investors, as evidenced by its first Life Sciences Showcase event at University Enterprise Laboratories Thursday morning, it’s something to think about.

From the day Jay Schrankler and Doug Johnson started to revamp the university’s Office for Technology Commercialization http://www.medcitynews.com/index.php/2009/12/kudos-to-university-of-minnesota-tech-transfer/ , the two business pros have insisted on a central strategy: the school would focus on developing and spinning out companies with the greatest “blockbuster” potential: a game changing technology, a major acquisition, a monster initial public offering. In other words, a venture capital model.

Thomas Lee

Full Story: http://www.medcitynews.com/2010/03/university-of-minnesota-is-open-for-business-are-there-customers/

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Kudos to University of Minnesota tech transfer

If a university’s tech transfer program drops $95 million in the middle of an urban jungle and no one’s there to see it, does it make a sound?

For the University of Minnesota, the answer is probably no. Politicians, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs have long criticized the school for inhibiting innovation rather than creating it.

But that criticism is getting old, or at least it should be. Under Jay Schrankler and Doug Johnson, the school’s tech transfer program has made enormous strides.

Thomas Lee

Full Story: http://www.medcitynews.com/2009/12/kudos-to-university-of-minnesota-tech-transfer/