At its December meeting, the Board of Regents created the System-level Office of Technology Commercialization and named Guy K. Diedrich to the new position of vice chancellor for technology commercialization. Diedrich had been managing director of Texas A&M University’s Technology Commercialization Center, which has been transferred to this new office.
Here, Diedrich answers questions about his new role and what commercialization means for the A&M System.
Guy
K. Diedrich
Systemwide: What is involved in technology commercialization and how does it fit with the A&M System’s mission?
Diedrich: Commercialization is the process of taking certain technologies that our researchers have developed and making them available to the general public. We may license the technology to an industry partner, or we might decide to form a business on our own that can manufacture and market the technology. The Office of Technology Commercialization is the link between our researchers and the industry partners who make these products commercially viable.
As the state’s land-grant institution, part of the A&M System’s mission has always been to use research to improve lives. The goal of this office is to turn findings in health care, technology, the environment and many other areas into products that will provide a strong return to investors, value to inventors and extraordinary benefits to society.
Why has this function been moved to the System level?
Moving this to the System level will help us address the needs of the entire A&M System—all nine universities, seven agencies and health science center.
At Texas A&M, we have executed more than 600 license agreements since the licensing office was established in 1992. On average, our office filed a patent application every other day and executed a license agreement once a week. Having this function at the System level creates a single point of contact for all system members that want to commercialize their technology products.
Why is having a single point of contact important?
In today’s business climate, you’ve got to be flexible and able to move quickly. Our office makes available every service necessary to take a technology from the concept stage to market. You could say that this new office helps us move at the speed of industry.
What are some examples of previous partnerships involving technology commercialization?
Two recent examples are in the area of health care for animals and humans. The commercialization center recently formed TESI—Texas Enterosorbents Inc.—which is marketing a product that rids cattle of aflatoxins, poisons caused by the growth of certain fungi on food products.
We have also formed Telemedicus, a company that is building the next generation of telemedicine technology. The partners in Telemedicus include the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, Texas A&M and the University of Texas Health Science Center.
Another exciting initiative is the creation in July of the Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine by two A&M System members—the health science center’s Institute of Biosciences and Technology in Houston and Texas A&M University in College Station—and Lexicon Genetics in The Woodlands. The institute will house the largest library of knockout mice stem cell clones in the world. Researchers at TIGM will study the function of genes that will lead to the development of drugs to treat a wide variety of human and animal diseases, including diabetes and obesity, infectious disease, cancer and heart disease.
These start-up efforts highlight our ability and interest in working with every A&M System member and attracting outside partners.
In a related area, the A&M System was chosen recently to host the Texas Life Science Commercialization & Innovation Center, which oversees the process for dispersing biotechnology investments from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund.
The Texas Legislature set up seven regional centers and one statewide biotechnology center—the TLSCIC—across Texas to review technologies with the potential to have a significant economic impact in Texas. We’re prepared to receive our first round of applications this month.
Are many other universities involved in technology commercialization?
Most definitely. According to a recent issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, American universities created a record number of start-up companies last year, and collected more than $1 billion in revenues from licenses on products ranging from new drugs, high-tech components and agricultural items.
Commercialization led to 425 start-up companies, more than 15,000 invention disclosures—findings that have the potential for commercialization—and a record number of deals for licenses, nearly 5,000.
What professional experience do you bring to this position?
I graduated from Texas A&M in 1989, then founded a company called GRA Inc., a software development and consulting company with offices in Atlanta, London and Dallas, and served as its president and CEO for 11 years. It grew to more than 130 employees when it was acquired by a publicly traded technology company in 1998. I also served as president of Austin Technology Ventures before coming back to work at Texas A&M in 2004. I’m finishing my Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge.
In your new role as vice chancellor, what is your vision for the System’s growth in technology commercialization?
The A&M System is a national leader in research and discovery, and we will soon be a national leader in technology commercialization.
This means focusing on our two customer bases: the researchers throughout the System, and the industry partners seeking A&M innovations. In addition to creating a new level of service in intellectual property protection and licensing, we will create between three and five businesses a year where A&M members have a significant equity stake, and provide a great return to the System, investors and inventors.