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Montana University System sets new research record, ranks 5th in U.S. for research growth – the Headwaters Tech Hub
Additionally, he highlighted the Headwaters Tech Hub, leveraged by the optics and photonics research at MSU. Photonics includes optical and laser technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Tim VanReken, head of the Tech Hub, said the idea with the hubs is that it’s time for the federal government to invest in research and development to keep up with advances in adversarial nations rather than let the private sector handle innovation on its own.
The money — $45.9 million for Montana including $41.3 million from the federal government — is intended to catalyze work that’s already taking place in an area, such as optics and photonics in Montana, VanReken said. Twenty-seven partners from the public and private sectors are involved in the project, including economic and workforce development teams.
The $41.3 million for Montana comes from the CHIPS and Science Act outgoing U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, supported in 2022. VanReken said the goal is to drive a $10 billion economic impact in the state at the end of a decade with the investment.
“We expect for this to be ambitious,” VanReken said.
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This research success is outstanding and necessary to build and grow economic excellence but the true measure will be the commercialization, contracts with global companies and, most importantly, the startups that are based around the research. Growing Montana’s economy with vibrant and ground breaking startups builds the base for business clusters like the amazing photonics community. But what others can come from the extensive research in new exciting industries? Tech transfer needs to be as important as R&D if Montana wants to stay competitive in a rapidly expanding technology economy.
I’ve talked with quite a few researchers in our university education system and too many are reluctant to even consider commercialization of their efforts. Is this from a lack of understanding of the process, a process that is too difficult and complicated, a process that doesn’t provide them with a possibility of earning significant money or something else? Other universities have a highly developed culture of commercialization, tech transfer and startups arising from the research. There’s nothing being done wrong but it should be a conversation on how a spirit of thinking about the economic possibilities is always considered in the research ideas of all involved. If research funding is going to be more difficult to obtain, income from startups and licensing could help fill the gaps.
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Vitamin D and the University of Wisconsin
“That is arguably the biggest major discovery my lab has ever made,” says DeLuca, who has more than 1,500 patents with WARF, which have generated an excess of $500 million in royalties over the past 30 years.
https://biochem.wisc.edu/2016/11/10/continuing-a-legacy-vitamin-d-research-in-the-21st-century/
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Why Stanford Is Celebrating The Google IPO – August 23, 2004
After last week’s initial public offering, Stanford is left with 7,574 shares of Class A Google stock and 1,650,289 shares of Class B stock, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Those holdings are valued at $179.5 million. The university’s trustees sold 184,207 shares, earning a quick $15.6 million.
David Cheriton, the Professor who mentored Google’s co-founders , earned almost $29 million in Google’s IPO.
https://matr.net/news/why-stanford-is-celebrating-the-google-ipo/
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I recently attended a Ruffatto Startup Challenge https://www.umt.edu/startup/ event where university students pitched their ideas of growing a company. While there were a number of worthwhile ideas, what could be accomplished if there was a focused competition to encourage students to build companies around ongoing research in photonics, optics and laser technologies to highlight the efforts of the Tech Hub? Could be a great way to attract investors in these areas (there are a lot of them who own vacation homes in Montana), encourage researchers to consider tech transfer opportunities and increase the visibility of Montana’s economic and research excellence.
Best,
Russ