The University of Arizona Office of Technology Transfer and The University Funds announced they have signed a "memorandum of understanding" to collaborate on the creation of new ventures based upon research at the University.
The primary purpose of the collaboration is to accelerate successful commercialization of select intellectual property developed at the UA utilizing The University Funds venture capital model in tandem with their business launch process.
"The acceleration process is the directed application of skilled people with deep experience in just the right areas, along with appropriate business resources and money, to build new ventures around compelling new faculty research discoveries in solving problems people care about," said Patrick Jones, director of the UA Office of Technology Transfer.
he UA is one of several research institutions collaborating with The University Funds – a fully integrated seed-stage venture capital fund and business accelerator – because of "its unique business model and experienced team of business start-up professionals," Jones said.
"The partnership is expected to add to the Office of Technology Transfer's reputation for the transfer of technology generated by the range of high quality research being performed at UA by its world-class faculty," he added.
Jones said his office is "extremely excited" to collaborate with the firm.
"The team of seasoned entrepreneurs and investors they have assembled as part of their venture accelerator model is truly impressive," he said. "To have such resources available to our faculty to develop and seed new ventures is a major boost to the University's efforts in fueling the economic growth of Arizona. We see them as an important complement to the existing entrepreneurial community in Tucson."
Based in Washington state, The University Funds is a new venture development firm that fully integrates seed-stage funding with a managed business formation process for creating high potential portfolio companies from research-based intellectual property, or IP, licensed from IP Partners.
The firm's mission is to create an optimal eco-system that supports and rewards all stakeholders while removing many potential conflicts and risks associated with existing venture models.
"Our partnership with The University of Arizona was a key objective in the launch of our venture," said The University Funds chief executive officer and co-founder Jim Torina.
"The combination of the breadth of UA's applied research, the strong local entrepreneur community and an Office of Technology Transfer which understands the value of our progressive venture model creates a winning combination of people, process and capital to accelerate commercialization opportunities," Torina said.
The University of Arizona Office of Technology Transfer is charged with managing the school's intellectual property assets and facilitating licensing transactions based on those assets. The office's mission is to protect, manage, and transfer UA-owned intellectual property to benefit society, to expand public-private relationships, and to further the University's mission of research, teaching and service to the State of Arizona and the nation. OTT carries out its entrepreneurial mission using intellectual property-based contractual agreements to create relationships between the University research community and private sector companies.