CWRU's revenues from licensing technology developed at the University have jumped 50 percent in the past year, and the number of invention disclosures the University has received has increased by 44 percent.

The University's gross income from licensing agreements for the year ending October 1, 2002, was $3 million compared with $2 million the previous year. In addition, the University received 88 invention disclosures in that period, versus 61 the year before, and processed 182 material transfer agreements.

Invention disclosures and material transfer agreements are both significant indicators of technology transfer and research activity. The office has several licenses and options in process.

"In the past year, CWRU has established an infrastructure in technology transfer that will enable it to assume a leadership position both locally and nationally," said Mark Coticchia, vice president for research and technology management.

"In less than a year we have recruited a team of experienced business professionals and support staff, instituted new policies and procedures, installed new systems to streamline processes, spent a great deal of time listening to the concerns of our campus clients and connecting with the local business community" said Casey Porto, CWRU's associate vice president of technology transfer. "We have worked diligently to serve both our researchers and our existing licensees, particularly those start-up companies in the Cleveland area."

Before coming to CWRU Coticchia, a technology transfer veteran, had been senior director at Redleaf Group Inc. in Pittsburgh, a technology operating company that provides services and capital for pre-seed and seed-stage technology companies. Porto had been director of technology transfer at Carnegie Mellon University.

CWRU announced this week that it had helped to secure an additional $2 million in financing for Copernicus Therapeutics Inc., a company in which CWRU has an equity stake that was founded on technology licensed from CWRU and Ohio University. Earlier this month the University announced the formation of Case Technology Ventures, a multimillion dollar pre-seed funding source within the Technology Transfer Office, designed to help commercialize technologies developed at the University.

"Through CTV, we will increase a company's ability to achieve commercial success by providing capital for specific, early-stage needs that many traditional investors would shy away from," said Nick Frollini, managing director of CTV.

"Good technology transfer begins with a broad, high-quality base of research, and that's what we have at CWRU," Coticchia said. "One of our goals is to be able to team up with other major research institutions in our area, such as the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals or the NASA Glenn Research Center. Going to a funding source such as the National Science Foundation with a collaborative proposal will help our chances of securing even larger grants."