Six inventions by University of Akron faculty members will receive $145,000 in go-to-market cash in the inaugural round of funding through the University’s LEAP program.
Dr. Gopal Nadkarni
LEAP — Leading Entrepreneurial Academics into Practice — opened for business in the spring with the arrival of Dr. Gopal Nadkarni as the first director of the new Proof of Concept initiative. The Proof of Concept approach combines university funding with guidance from industry and entrepreneurship experts to identify the most commercially ready inventions and help speed them to market.
Speeding the process
The inventors, working with mentors from local companies and other advisers, use the money to show the marketplace that their technology works and is ready to leave the lab. The goal is to attract outside investors or licensing deals.
“We’re a startup in search of startups,” Nadkarni says.
The first startup ideas selected for LEAP funding are:
- Akron FFT, $25,000: A mathematical process devised by Dr. Dale Mugler, dean of the Honors College, that could lead to speedier computer graphics.
- OXAID, $25,000: A moist hydrogel dressing to treat diabetic foot ulcers formulated by Dr. Nic Leipzig, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.
- SurgiGlue, $25,000: A flexible wound covering that moves with the skin as it heals, created by Dr. Joseph Kennedy, distinguished professor of polymer science and chemistry.
- Shrinkage-Reducing Admixture, $15,000: An admixture keeps concrete from shrinking as it sets while maintaining its strength, developed by Dr. Donald Visco, an associate dean in the College of Engineering.
Two other proposals received conditional funding, requiring them to attract matching money:
- Smart Sensor Network, $30,000: A system for monitoring the condition of the power grid developed by Dr. Yilmaz Sozer, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, working with Exacter Inc. of Columbus.
- Smart Imaging Goggles, $25,000: A high-resolution device that helps cancer surgeons find tumors, developed by Dr. Yang Liu, assistant professor of biomedical engineering working with the Cleveland Clinic.
Getting results
The faculty-led Proof of Concept program is part of the Innovation Practice Center, created in 2012 through the University’s Achieving Distinction Initiative. It was inspired, Nadkarni says, by the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Nadkarni’s background is in materials science, both as a tenured professor at the University of New Brunswick in Canada and later during 15 years working in industry, including for steel maker Arcelor Mittal. He is proud that steel products he developed are used in the Cadillac CTS and the Chevrolet Equinox.
“I left [academia] because I felt I wasn’t doing anything useful,” he says. “And I came back now because I felt I could do something useful with the knowledge that I gained, helping the professors.”
Multifaceted approach
UA has an Office of Technology Transfer (OTT), where faculty receive legal and technical advice on filing patents and on intellectual property issues. The University of Akron Research Foundation (UARF), a nonprofit separate from the University, helps faculty entrepreneurs form companies and find investors. Nadkarni works closely with both the OTT and UARF with the primary goal of accelerating UA technologies.
The problem, Nadkarni says, was that although many University inventors were filing for patents and forming companies, few of those companies actually made money.
LEAP funding is aimed at guiding technologies that are almost mature to a bridge over what Nadkarni calls “the Valley of Death”—the void between the tech transfer office and the real world.
“Most patents go there to die,” Nadkarni says.
He sees the Proof of Concept initiative as a Valley of Birth, “where we take good ideas and nurture them to the point where outside investors actually will see the potential of The University of Akron’s promising technologies.”
Media contact: Roger Mezger, 330-972-4219 or rmezger@uakron.edu.