Last week, I met with Cara Hajovsky, Marketing Associate at STC.UNM, the University of New Mexico’s Technology Transfer Office. STC provides a link between UNM researchers and the companies and VCs looking to turn ideas and discoveries into gold.
Since 1996, STC has filed 773 patent applications, received 270 issued patents, signed 393 license and option agreements, and spun off 57 start-up companies from technologies developed at UNM. In 2010 alone, STC filed 106 patent applications that resulted in 26 issued patents, and generated more than $3 million in licensing income for the University. More than two dozen companies, mostly startups, are currently commercializing technologies developed through STC.
Many of the technologies that pass through STC are exciting, and some are truly revolutionary. And yet, the potential for commercial success of these technologies still starts with demand – whether B2B or B2C – and the ability of companies to understand and satisfy it. The markets for STC technologies vary from life-saving medical devices to cutting edge LED lighting, but the imperative to understand who the customer is and what differentiates one’s offering from the competition remains constant across the board.
That’s as true for next-generation mass spectrometry it was for 19th century horse and buggy whips.
