Guest Column: Get to Know Tech Launch Arizona (Again) This Fall

Guest Column: Get to Know Tech Launch Arizona (Again) This Fall

By Paul TumarkinTech Launch Arizona
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UA Tech Park
UA Tech Park
Paul Tumarkin, marketing and communications manager for Tech Launch Arizona
Paul Tumarkin, marketing and communications manager for Tech Launch Arizona

As we've been building Tech Launch Arizona over the past few years, one of the lessons we've learned is that we need to continually adapt to expand and enhance the University innovation ecosystem.

Prior to June of 2015, TLA comprised four function-focused units: Technology Transfer Arizona, Wheelhouse Arizona, Tech Parks Arizona and Corporate Relations Arizona.

Over the past two years, a number of changes have occurred both inside TLA and within the greater University community that affect the University innovation ecosystem. A few colleges have created or expanded their business development functions. The 100% Engagement initiative for students has spooled up and companies are stepping up to provide experiences for UA students. Also, the Office for Research & Discovery has grown its capabilities and has hired Dennis Beal, associate vice president for business development, who will focus on developing and maintaining relationships with major UA corporate research partners. All these and much more are evidence of significant opportunities and need for coordination within the UA.

With help and input from across the TLA organization, we restructured over the summer and we now collaborate as three integrated teams:

  • Technology Transfer, led by Senior Director Doug Hockstad, is the home of TLA's Intellectual Property and Licensing Manager teams and works directly with UA inventors to create and report inventions stemming from UA research. This is also where we focus on developing successful startup companies and bringing the right people – such as commercialization partners – to the table to ensure that those companies are built on the healthiest foundations possible. On this team we also have a person dedicated to marketing UA technologies, as well as a team of graduate students who help assess newly disclosed inventions.  
     
  • Tech Parks Arizona, founded in 1994 and led by Associate Vice President Bruce Wright, includes the UA's research parks and provides new and established businesses with UA research and development space; production and warehouse facilities; wet, dry and clean labs; and specialized equipment. It is also home to the Arizona Center for Innovation, or AzCI, the UA's tech company incubator frequently used by UA startups. Tech Parks Arizona has two properties: the UA Tech Park, which houses AzCI and over 40 companies employing nearly 6,500 people; and the UA Tech Park – The Bridges, which is three miles south of main campus on Kino Parkway and will encompass some 65 acres and upward of 3 million square feet of developed space dedicated to technology and innovation.
     
  • Business Development Resources, previously known as Wheelhouse, is a group that has developed and expanded. With Director Sherry Hoskinson leading the way, Business Development Resources provides a rich menu of services to help develop UA inventions and startups throughout the entire commercialization process.

TLA Vice President David Allen has called this an exciting time for the organization, as its transformation is widely acknowledged and invention inputs are rapidly increasing. Expanding our reach and involving top students, engaged alumni and business talent across the Southwest helps us to keep abreast of the growing waves of opportunity approaching our shores.

Help for developing and licensing UA technologies

TLA's new Business Development Resources Group – what we call the BDRG – includes the following areas: Asset Demonstration, previously Proof-of-Concept, which provides funding to help mature new inventions for market; Business Intelligence, which provides information to help inform strategic directions and business plans; SBIR/STTR Tech House, which provides support for community members seeking federal funding for small technology business development; TLA's 1,300-plus domain expert network; and our Commercialization Partners, entrepreneurs- and executives-in-residence, who help coach and lead UA startups. All of these areas are dedicated to providing world-class business research for optimal decision-making and strategic development as we commercialize technologies.

The BDRG also includes RD Castillo, TLA's senior associate of business relations. Castillo is TLA’s liaison to the Office for Research & Discovery, various University centers and institutes, college administrations and Tech Parks Arizona. He helps TLA to "connect the dots" and identify key points for connections and collaborative opportunities both inside the University and with the greater Tucson community. Castillo will be building and managing relationships with key companies, such as small businesses and large government contractors that will be essential in helping to grow the ecosystem.

As Hoskinson has said, TLA's BDRG model is "unique and powerful," with its ability to focus on elements of assessing and commercializing UA inventions in the UA and across the southern Arizona culture, and with its flexibility to adapt as conditions evolve.

Join us this October

In October, TLA will hold a series of lunchtime workshops covering the essential knowledge UA researchers can use to bring research to the world through commercialization. Workshops will take place every Wednesday throughout the month, and each will focus on a different aspect of the process, from intellectual property creation and protection to startups to licensing.

We are now in our third year of offering these highly popular workshops, so RSVP early to reserve your seat.

To stay current on what's going on at TLA, subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Paul Tumarkin is the marketing and communications manager for Tech Launch Arizona.

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