Say that a brilliant scientist has invented a flying car or made a cure for cancer. While many believe the scientist should be popping open the champagne and celebrating, instead they’re probably asking themselves, what now? The answer: bring it to STC.UNM.
Formed in 1995 and formerly known as the Science and Technology Corporation @UNM, the STC exists to help take technology developed at UNM from the science lab to the people who can actually bring it to the market place.
Currently, according to the STC.UNM website, they have a little more than 50 active start-up companies based off of UNM technology. One of these, nano-MR, is currently undergoing a merger and being acquired by the company DNA Electronics LTD for over $20 million.
NanoMR developed a new technology, originally created at UNM, which allows for much faster diagnoses of blood infections. Lisa Kuuttila, CEO of STC.UNM, said that after the merger, UNM will retain its license of the technology as before, so little will change for the University.
“The intellectual property that was licensed to nanoMR — that license is still in place and it will be licensed to the new company,” Kuuttila said. “They’ve (nanoMR) raised quite a bit of money, and the CEO, Victor Esch, has done a fantastic job growing the business here in Albuquerque.”
She added that she believes the company will retain its name and keep its employees here in Albuquerque. However, the process of getting a start-up from developed technology to a fully functioning, profitable business like nanoMR does not happen overnight.
“This business takes a long time,” Kuuttila said. “It takes a long time to get products to market.”
First the inventor, usually a University professor, will bring the technology to STC.UNM. Then STC starts by researching the patent literature to make sure that the idea is actually novel. If it is, they file a provisional patent application — last year they filed provisional patents on 83 percent of the new technologies brought to them. After that, they have a year to research the product fully.
“We’ll start to build a portfolio, and then we’ll start to go out into the marketplace and talk to entrepreneurs and investors and also other companies. To kind of figure out what the best commercialization pathway is,” Kuuttila said.
After the year is up, if the product seems like a good one, they will file a regular patent which Kuuttila said is the more expensive step.
While sometimes the scientist/inventor will play a role in the new start-up company, usually in an advisory position, actually getting the technology to the marketplace is the job of an entrepreneur. Therefore, Kuuttila said her job is mostly playing “matchmaker” between the inventor and potential entrepreneurs and investors. She is constantly meeting with established entrepreneurs and investors to show them portfolios of technologies available for licensing or a start-up that are within their area of interest.
One of their most recent start-ups, ExoVita Biosciences, Inc, is based on a new technology for treating cancer, developed in Dr. Kristina Trujillo’s laboratory. Trujillo praised STC.UNM, saying they guided her through the process and were careful to fully explain each step.
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“The process was not that difficult. I disclosed my technology to STC about one year ago. STC connected me with the President of the Angel Investors, John Chavez. We met, I pitched my technology to him, and the rest is history,” Trujillo said. “STC has phenomenal patent lawyers. They have been incredibly helpful with the intellectual property involved in ExoVita.”
While STC.UNM revenue fluctuates, generally Kuuttilla said they have been increasing their revenue over the years. Of the money generated, 40 percent goes back to STC.UNM, 40 percent goes to the inventor and 20 percent goes to UNM. They generate about one third of their own income and receive the rest of their funding from UNM.
That funding includes money for the almost $900,000 a year spent on patents and investments, as well as for a new co-investment fund STC.UNM has with the UNM Foundation. This fund has allowed them to make investments of $100,000 in some of the start-ups they helped create, which they did with four companies this past fall.
Overall, Kuuttila said that making money is not the primary goal of STC.UNM. Along with providing a service to the faculty, the creation of start-ups helps to boost the local economy and create jobs, as well as getting a valuable technology onto the market.
“A lot of it is kind of fortuitous, if you happen to have that one patent. And you can’t predict it. So yes, of course we’d love it if that happens, but our core mission is to get that technology out there and provide service to the University,” Kuuttila said.
Lauren Topper is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com, or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
