The Reporter: Oct 1994, Vol.5, No.3
Technology Transfer Office Expands Its Efforts

Already No. 2 in the nation in licensing revenue from faculty research, Columbia University is now even more determined to take its innovations and inventions to the market place.

"While we are delighted by our $31.8 million this year in licensing revenue, Columbia is aiming for $100 million a year in the early part of the next century," says Dr. Michael Crow, vice provost. "We expect we can do it because there is so much innovation coming from so many disciplines at Columbia."

To meet the $100 million objective, the university reorganized and expanded its technology transfer office in July. Formerly called Science and Technology Development, the office is now known as Columbia Innovation Enterprise (CIE).

CIE's mission is to better identify, protect, and market innovations that immediately have commercial application; to nurture discoveries needing more development through support from a newly created Columbia fund; and to improve the process of creating spin-off companies based on Columbia's innovation and related technologies from other institutions.

CIE has new staff, is developing new technology, and is leasing incubator space-"all to facilitate innovation commercialization inside and outside the institution," says Dr. Crow. The office will be better able to meet the needs of Columbia faculty and individuals from industry and other institutions. Industry and other interested parties also will have improved access to Columbia innovation through a Columbia innovation data base being developed and expected to be available on the Internet in 1996.

Incubator space is available for leasing at two sites: Audubon Biomedical Science and Technology Park, a commercial facility providing laboratory space for companies involved in biotechnology and biomedical research, and on the Morningside campus.

Columbia's success stories in innovation are impressive: licensing fees representing product sales of $2.8 billion, biotechnology companies, a set of economic indicators, a variety of biomedical devices and diagnostic and therapeutic technologies, and computer software and hardware.

CIE's executive director is Jack Granowitz, who continues to maintain offices at both the Morningside and Health Sciences campuses. Scot Hamilton has been appointed director of the health sciences office of CIE. Before joining Columbia, Mr. Hamilton was director of the Office of Industrial Affairs at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He also was a technology transfer specialist at Mayo Medical Ventures in Rochester, Minn.

A graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, he has a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law, also in St. Paul. He later earned a bachelor's degree in microbiology from the University of Minnesota. He is a certified patent attorney.

Sara Gusik and Ron Lustgarten, both new employees, and Dr. Joseph Dailey assist Mr. Hamilton.

Other personnel in CIE are Dr. Fred Kant, director of physical science technology, and Phil Lemanski, director of finance and administration. William Doyle of Arch Venture Partners of Chicago consults with the university on formation of start-up companies.