Tech Transfer : Innovation + Job News

The Ohio State University’s Technology Commercialization and Knowledge Transfer Office (TCO) and Cleveland Clinic Innovations recently formed a special alliance with the goal of helping move Ohio into the forefront of medical innovation and enhance job creation in the state.

“Nationally, this is one of the few alliances of this kind between prominent academic medical centers, putting Ohio in a leadership position for the commercialization of medical technology,” according to Brian Cummings, OSU’s vice president of technology commercialization.

Efforts will focus on improving and extending the lives of patients, and innovations will come in many forms, such as medical devices, patient services, new medical software systems, consumer products and startup companies, Cummings explains.
 
“This partnership holds enormous potential for Ohio to reshape the future of medicine,” says Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee in a news release.

The two organizations will be sharing and using their comprehensive technology and commercialization service infrastructures to develop and deploy new medical innovations generated by researchers, physicians, faculty and administrative staff at both institutions.

“Our first step going forward is to assess each other’s assets, available resources, unique programs and intellectual property portfolios and to begin to analyze the overlaps and gaps where we can assist each other,” Cummings says.

Cummings cites neuromodulation as an important innovation for the new partnership to explore. “Neuromodulation is one of the hottest areas of research and breakthrough innovation in current medical practice,” he says. "It has the potential through electrical stimulation to literally turn diseases off and on."

"Dr. Ali Rezai is a leader in this field and currently works at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center but started his work at the Cleveland Clinic, where he has built up a large portfolio of high-value companies and patents," Cummings adds. "Using the Clinic’s existing intellectual property and the clinical capabilities of Dr. Rezai’s current work at Ohio State should lead to a string of joint innovations and a host of new companies."


Source: Brian Cummings
Writer: Lynne Meyer

There's a reason why Ohio Supercomputer Center's new $4.1 million,  HP Intel Xeon, processor based system has been dubbed the Oakley Cluster. Like the legendary Ohio-born sharpshooter and social advocate Annie Oakley, it's fast as hell, doesn't miss a shot and is improving the lives of Ohioans.

Just ask Ashok Krishnamurthy, Executive Director of the OSC, a facility that is funded by the Ohio Board of Regents and has been in existence since 1987. "We have more than 2,000 academic users across the state, and they're discovering new materials and developing advanced energy applications," he says. "To be competitive, we must provide the highest performance system, and this represents a new level of capability."

OSC's new supercomputer can achieve 88 teraflops, which is tech speak for 88 trillion calculations per second. Yes, in case you're wondering, that's lightning fast.

OSC's new system will help to achieve its mission of assisting academic and business users. Large companies such as Proctor and Gamble and Rolls Royce use OSC as a "second level system when they have needs beyond what their systems can support," says Krishnamurthy. OSC helps small and midsize companies develop and test prototypes virtually rather than investing in actual models, while academics use the system to complete their cutting-edge research.

"We give them access to software and expertise," says Krishnamurthy. "Once they understand the value of what this can do, it changes how they do business."

As one example, Krishnamurthy cites an Ohio company that is developing an LED projector small enough to fit inside a phone. How do they convince various manufacturers that their device can handle the projector's heat without testing every single one? That's where OSC's computer modeling comes in.

"You can simulate how the heat is dissipated," he says. "It's an easy, low-cost way to show potential customers how your design can be incorporated into their products."

OSC has also helped to develop courses for students at community colleges and four-year colleges and universities, as well as professionals who are seeking continuing education. "OSC is in a fairly unique position," says Krishnamurthy. "It is the most consistently state-funded center of its kind in the country."


Source: Ashok Krishnamurthy
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Businesses looking for information or project partners now have an easier way to connect with industry experts, federal labs, universities, Ohio's Edison and Wright centers and even other for-profit companies.

OMNI, managed as a joint venture between the Ohio Department of Development and the Board of Regents and spearheaded by Cincinnati-based TechSolve -- the Ohio Edison Center responsible for assisting manufacturers primarily in the aerospace and defense industries -- was rolled out in a "soft launch" to limited users late last month. When fully populated, the portal will serve as a clearinghouse for a vast array of information and resources as well as a space for collaborative work.

TechSolve President Gary Conley says the key to the service is an advanced search function and collaborative capabilities built by Ohio Third Frontier recipient Zakta, of Cincinnati.

OMNI will make it possible for a user to find help he or she may need more quickly by tapping a data base of Ohio experts and resource links. A company with a particular problem can post a "challenge," which will automatically be sent to OMNI participants who have expertise in that area, Conley says.

"Or, if I have a particular technology, I can search the challenges and send an e-mail and say 'I can help,'" he adds.

The parties can then connect privately outside of OMNI -- or work together real-time using shared space on OMNI � to tackle the challenge. Each OMNI participant also has the option to keep his or her space private, organizing into folders information found on the web or passed along by others, or to open up those articles, images or videos to share with everyone.

Conley says OMNI solves a problem that has existed for a long time -- how businesses can find resources to help with technological obstacles or other issues. Hard copy directories were static and stayed on shelves, Conley says. OMNI will be flexible and agile, with an ability to add resources constantly.

At last count, OMNI had 1,200 individuals and nearly 500 companies in the data base. The portal currently is populated with aerospace and advanced materials resources, with biotech to come soon.

Source: Gary Conley, TechSolve
Writer: Gene Monteith

Battelle Memorial Institute, one of the world's leading research and technology development organizations, is ready to shed its relative anonymity.

In a new effort to publicize the scope of its research, Battelle has added a searchable catalog to its website for those seeking licenses on its intellectual property and patents.

"We've always licensed technology. We've always done contract research for clients, and our industrial and government partners," says Spencer Pugh, Battelle's VP and manager of industrial and international markets. "We just never bragged about it much, or made it public."

The initial catalog of more than 60 patents ranges from medical and industrial system advancements, to advanced materials technology, consumer product innovations and green technologies. Metal-air batteries that increase efficiency in hearing aids and cell phones, cell therapy manufacturing systems, tankless cutting torches and thermal water treatment systems dot the list, which is just the tip of Battelle's research, Pugh explains.

Because it licenses some of its research to clients, they'll never be able to publicize the full range of the company's work.

The company, with headquarters in Columbus, has 130 locations worldwide with 22,000 employees. Battelle also co-manages seven national laboratories for the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Homeland Security, and a nuclear energy lab in the United Kingdom.

But, at its heart, Pugh says, Battelle is a charitable trust with an emphasis on furthering math and science education. With additional funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the company is a founding partner of the Ohio STEM Learning Network and one of the corporate leaders of the Change the Equation Initiative, a CEO-led effort dedicated to inspiring STEM students. It also continues to work with today's youth through its Battelle for Kids, Battelle Engineering Experience and Project Mentor programs, and sponsors numerous grants for education programs.

Source: Spencer Pugh, Battelle Memorial Institute
Writer: Dave Malaska

Arising from expertise within the glass industry and the abundance of cheap natural gas needed to melt silica for solar modules, the Toledo area has long been recognized for incubating advanced and alternative energy players.

In the thick of things has been the University of Toledo. So, it's only fitting that when it came time for the State of Ohio to establish a new Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization (PVIC), UT was a logical choice.

PVIC was founded in January 2007 with $18.6 million in Ohio Third Frontier funding and matching contributions of $30 million from federal agencies and university and industrial partners. The center -- which also has hubs Ohio State University, and Bowling Green State University -- has become a state of the art laboratory with three purposes, says Robert Collins, professor of physics and co-director of the PVIC: to help new companies commercialize their products, to help existing companies improve their products and expand product lines, and to build a large solar cluster in northwest Ohio.

The PVIC serves as both a testing ground for new applications and a resource for commercialization of those techniques. The center is now working with 30 companies from around the country -- including a start-up from Silicon Valley, Collins says.

The center has led the way in development of new thin-film technologies that can be produced more quickly and less expensively than traditional solar films. Meanwhile, UT is working on next-generation films using nanostructures, recently hiring two experts from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to lead the work.

Source: Robert Collins, University of Toledo
Writer: Gene Monteith

Hearts beat, lungs expand and patients squirm, all factors that can cause a magnetic resonance imaging machine to produce blurry images. And when it comes to detecting potentially cancerous tissues, a blurry MRI scan is not a good thing.

Quality Electrodynamics, located in Mayfield Village, is helping companies like Siemens and Toshiba produce machines that scan in a much shorter period of time, resulting in crisper, clearer images. Founded by Hiroyuki Fujita, QED manufactures the radio frequency coils that have made these machines the platinum standard of the industry.

"These machines are setting the standard for spatial resolution," explains Fujita, the company's president. "By producing better images of a patient's anatomy, we can find cancerous tissues that may be impossible to detect otherwise." QED crafts a variety of coils that are optimized for different parts of the body.

What began in a 300-square-foot incubator space at the Case Western Reserve University physics department is now a 27,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. In four short years, the company expanded from just two employees to more than 50. Things are going so well for QED, says Fujita, that he expects the company to double it staff in the next two years.

While Fujita deserves credit for the success of his company, he says that he couldn't have done it without help from the State of Ohio. "Without the Third Frontier grant for our business," he explains, "we never could have remained financially independent. Thanks to the state, we didn't have to raise any funds from venture capital companies."

Source: Hiroyuki Fujita, QED
Writer: Douglas Trattner