Tech Transfer Unit of the Year: Indiana University Research and Technology Corp

An unwillingness to rest on its laurels lies behind the success of Indiana University Research and Technology Corp (IURTC) over the past 12 months – and is the key reason the organisation has been named Tech Transfer Unit of the Year in the 2018 Global University Venturing Awards.

Despite the fact that India University faculty and students already had an enviable record of starting and growing successful businesses, in summer 2017 the institution took the bold step of overhauling the way it encourages and supports entrepreneurial activity.

Since July last year, a root-and-branch reform of IURTC has meant that students and staff at campuses across the state have found it easier to access the support and advice they need to develop innovative ideas and create new companies.

A key element of the reform was the decision to move tech transfer activities to the office of the vice-president for research – a move designed to enable tech transfer staff to work more closely with the university faculty, as well as to bring the body’s work into closer alignment with the university’s wider mission.

IURTC began life in 1997 as the Indiana University’s Advanced Research and Technology Institute, before adopting its current name a decade later. By the time of the 2017 reform, the organisation had received around 2,900 disclosures, filed more than 4,300 patents and generated nearly $138m in licensing and related income.

Speaking as the restructuring was announced, Indiana University vice-president for engagement, Bill Stephan, said: “As it transitions to its new model, IURTC will be a leaner organisation with a staff that is nimble enough to work on multiple tasks concurrently. This reorganisation is an opportunity for IURTC to be more forward-looking, strategic and capable of interacting with more people in novel and innovative ways.”

He said the university had already helped to launch a number of startups, such as the three biotech firms Calibrium, MB2 and Marcadia Biotech, as well as the educational software provider Angel Learning, which was sold to Blackboard for $100m in 2009.

Stephan said: “The reorganisation of IURTC is meant to enrich this already-strong sustainable entrepreneurial culture so that the next generations of world-changing ideas reach the market.”

IURTC chief executive Tony Armstrong said: “The new IURTC will be recognised as the conduit for the university as it relates to commercialisation efforts. This will strengthen the entrepreneurial culture across all campuses by coordinating entrepreneurial activities across the university.”

In the months since IURTC was reorganised, its progress has continued unabated. In December, for example, the university launched biotech spinout Dream Tech, which specialises in risk-assessments in areas such as pharma and agriculture. It was facilitated by the Indiana University innovation and commercialisation office, which licensed work carried out by Kan Shao, assistant professor of environmental and occupational health and an expert in probabilistic risk from Indiana’s School of Public Health.

Perhaps the most significant achievement since last July’s changes was the launch last February of the $15m Philanthropic Venture Fund. This evergreen fund has been created to provide capital to spinouts formed by faculty and students across the university’s campuses and has been financed primarily by gifts to the institution.

The fund is managed by Teri Willey, whose previous roles have included vice-president for business development and technology transfer at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, and chief executive of Cambridge Enterprise, the tech transfer office of University of Cambridge.

The new fund is the second major investment vehicle to be created by Indiana University following the $10m Innovate Indiana Fund, which was set up in 2010 to focus on seed and series A finance. Armstrong said the Philanthropic Venture Fund would provide seed and early-stage capital to university innovators.

According to the university, the new fund will offer capital for prototyping, proof-of-concept testing and equity investments, primarily at early stage.