U North Carolina at Charlotte Signs Southeast TechInventures To Commercialize IP

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 09/11/08

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte has signed a licensing agreement with Southeast TechInventures Inc. (STI) to streamline negotiations and accelerate the acquisition of intellectual property--a key step in the technology commercialization process. STI works in partnership with university-based inventors to commercialize new technologies.

"Southeast TechInventures supports inventors through the entire early stage commercialization process," said Carl Mahler, executive director of the Office of Technology Transfer at UNC Charlotte. "Their proven success in this arena aligns with our strong tradition of applied research, licensing, and transferring technology into the marketplace."

STI uses Small Business Innovation Research grants and other government and corporate funds to further develop technology. STI gets actively involved in developing technologies and associated business plans and then connects with angel and venture capital investors to get funding to commercialize the technologies. The company's work has resulted in the launch of 13 spin-off companies in the areas of life sciences, medical devices, diagnostics, photonics, optoelectronics, materials, and IT. In return for its services, STI takes an equity and/or royalty stake in the company.

STI is currently working with several UNC Charlotte early-stage technologies. In addition to UNC Charlotte, STI has similar licensing agreements with several other universities in North Carolina.

UNC Charlotte's Office of Technology Transfer is one of the country's best in putting intellectual capital to work according to statistics compiled by the Association of University Technology Managers. The university has 23,300 students, including almost 5,200 graduate students.