[Source: Joe Ferguson, Arizona Daily Sun] - The first home for what Flagstaff officials hope will be the next generation of businesses focusing on clean energy and technology officially opened Tuesday on McMillan Mesa.
The 10,000 square-foot, state-of-the art facility, known as the Northern Arizona Center for Emerging Technologies, will serve as a small-business incubator for entrepreneurs and startups. NACET will focus on high-tech, science-based businesses as well as renewable energy firms.
Gov. Janet Napolitano was one of several politicians who hailed the incubator as a step to diversify the local economy and support fledgling businesses. She touched on the current economy, saying Arizona needs to reduce its dependence on industries like home construction prone to boom and bust cycles.
“I think in Arizona we have seen why it is that we must continue to plant the seeds of diversifying ... so that we are not overly dependent on one industry such as construction. We have been through several construction cycles now since I’ve been governor, each one worse than one before. We always come out, but they are very difficult to go through,” Napolitano told reporters.
She said she was pleased to see a new incubator that will benefit communities in northern Arizona.
“One of our chief goals is to keep improving education, workforce development and projects such as NACET right here in Flagstaff. To keep diversifying the economy and to do it outside of Maricopa County,” Napolitano said.
One of the incubator’s first tenants is SenesTech, a fledgling biotechnology company started six years ago by NAU alum Loretta Mayer.
The company has one of the largest presences in the incubator, with several employees working out of a total of seven labs and offices.
The company is working on manufacturing a nontoxic alternative to the poisons currently used to keep rice-field rats under control.
The company recently signed a contract with the Australian government to produce the compound. Senestech hopes to have a marketable product with the next two years, according to NACET.
Local businessman Lavelle McCoy said he has been working on establishing a business incubator in Flagstaff for eight years. He currently serves as the chairman of NACET’s board of directors.
McCoy was proud of the new building but said it’s the companies that are the future of northern Arizona.
“This is more than just a facility. The facility is an instrument. What really matters is what we are going to accomplish going forward,” McCoy said.
The incubator was nearly scrapped by NAU a few years ago when increases in the cost of construction materials caused the university to scale back the project to half its originally planned size — 5,000 square feet.
The Flagstaff City Council then stepped in to take the lead on the incubator using a federal grant from the Economic Development Administration to help build the facility on city land adjacent to the USGS campus.
NACET will also be the home to Northern Arizona University’s tech-transfer office, which will help the school develop and commercialize inventions made by NAU faculty.
The agreement will be more efficient than the previous agreement NAU had with the Valley-based Arizona Science and Technology Enterprises.
NAU President John Haeger said NACET will be “economic breadbasket” for the local economy in the future.
Andy Kruse, a co-founder of Southwest Windpower, said he could have used the support now offered by NACET back in 1987. Back then, he and co-founder David Calley were tinkering in his garage with a prototype wind turbine using a modified Ford alternator.
At the time, the closest place the would-be entrepreneurs could go for help was the Small Business Administration in Phoenix.
“When we started out, the SBA was the place to go for small businesses to try and get advice and to build your businesses. But it was in Phoenix,” Kruse said. “It was really difficult starting out because we didn’t have any of the tools and we probably made more mistakes than we would have if we had NACET here back then. We would have probably been bigger by now.”
Joe Ferguson can be reached at 556-2253 or jferguson@azdailysun.com.
Companies currently at NACET
— Ambature LLC, is developing a new class of materials that improve the efficiency of power distribution while reducing electricity consumption.
— Algae Biosciences Corporation discovers, develops, produces, manufactures, and markets products that originate from marine and fresh water organisms.
— Foresight Wind Energy develops wind energy sources throughout the West.
— Keya Earth focuses on sustainable development strategies for Native American communities.
— SenesTech specializes in reproductive physiology. Specifically, nonsurgical methods for controlling reproduction in rodent and wildlife populations.
— Quantance, a semiconductor startup, has developed and patented technology innovations in radio frequency transmission efficiency that significantly increases signal power while requiring less battery power.
— SunWind Solutions produces web-based software for designing renewable energy systems.
Companies affiliated with NACET
— Abineau Communications is a boutique digital communications company that develops fixed and mobile wireless applications.
— Arizona High Spirits Distillery/Mogollon Brewing Company has launched a number of sustainable-technology initiatives related to the production of beer and high-end, distilled consumer products.
— Density Investments develops planning strategies that are designed to address urban sprawl using unique products.
— Motor Excellence is developing a disruptive electric motor and generator technology with broad potential applications.
— Visible Energy provides customer-friendly monitoring services that reduce energy usage and costs.
— Source: Northern Arizona Center for Emerging Technologies
Showing posts with label NACET. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NACET. Show all posts
Monday, November 24, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
NAU Ventures provides patents
[Source: Joey Chenoweth, Jack Central] - A new initiative called NAU Ventures has been established to create a system that will connect university researchers with resources to get their discoveries patented and into commercial distribution.
NAU Ventures, in a contract signed with the university, is a technology advancement plan designed to take discoveries and inventions, called invention disclosures, from faculty and student researchers and give them advice as far as getting their idea patented and commercialized. This is done through a partnership with the Northern Arizona Center for Emerging Technologies (NACET), a local business incubator. An incubator provides start-up companies with space, advice, an array of services and access to investors.
NAU Ventures is being managed by Dr. Al Poskanzer, the head of Poskanzer & Associates, a consulting business focused on technology collaboration, commercialization and licensing.
“The technology transfer plan at any university involves getting discoveries and inventions patented and licensed by private companies,” Poskanzer said. “Another goal is to contribute to the economic development of the local community.”
Poskanzer, whose experience includes being the director of technology licensing for Boeing and being the technology transfer director at ASU, said NAU Ventures encourages university professors with new research to become entrepreneurs by starting their own businesses in order to get their ideas into the market.
“Suppose you have a professor that invents a pill that cures cancer,” Poskanzer said. “They can go through NAU Ventures and we would encourage them to start their own company, and we would take that discovery from the laboratory into commercialization.”
Poskanzer said NAU Ventures is a great opportunity for NAU to show leadership to the other two research universities in Arizona as well.
“It is really setting a great example for the other two universities,” Poskanzer said. “It’s the only technological advancement program (in Arizona) that is joined at the hip with a local incubator. NAU is really setting an example for the rest of the state in this area.”
One company hoping to benefit from NAU Ventures is SenesTech Inc. Assistant Research Professor Loretta Mayer, Researcher Cheryl Dyer from the Department of Biology, and Assistant Professor Tim Vail from the Department of Chemistry founded SenesTech in 2002.
SenesTech is a company that focuses on reproductive strategies for wildlife population control.
The company’s current project is to address the overpopulation of rice field rats in southeast Asia. These rats are consuming somewhere from 10 to 50 percent of the region’s pre-harvest rice crop. Ten percent of the crop alone is enough to feed about 380 million people. SenesTech has developed bait they will be testing in the island of Java, Indonesia next month.
Mayer said SenesTech has plans for future projects, including population control for feral dogs and cats worldwide, the white-tailed deer in the northeast United States and rodents that contaminate greeneries around the world. The company, which was formerly partnered with the U of A, is now working with NAU Ventures on these projects in order to have a closer proximity.
“I hope (NAU Ventures) would provide patents and future licenses that will provide opportunities for SenesTech,” Mayer said. “Because I’m at NAU, this is where my laboratories are. This is where my ideas can be developed that will be improvements in technology.”
Laura Huenneke, NAU vice president for research, is in charge of taking research from researchers and disclosing it to NAU Ventures in order to get their advice for the next step. She is working with the initiative to go through the university files and find all the invention disclosures from the past 10 years.
NAU Ventures then looks at each disclosure and decides whether it has potential for commercialization. Between six and 12 disclosures are chosen for review for each year. NAU Ventures is also meeting with faculty and staff in order to discuss future ideas.
Huenneke said some universities have made great profit from technology expansion programs like this, such as the University of Florida when they invented Gatorade. However, she said this is not the goal for NAU.
“In our case, we’re more concerned with the professional opportunity for our faculty so we can attract and keep a higher-quality faculty,” Huenneke said. “We’re doing this more for the benefit of our faculty and our students rather than because we think we can make a couple million dollars out of it.”
She also said the program offers great benefits for students as well.
“For students, it’s an opportunity to see how creativity at the university can create business opportunities for them in the future,” Huenneke said. “The opportunity is a way to benefit the students’ education.”
Poskanzer also said he sees a bigger impact coming from NAU Ventures.
“Hopefully we’ll create more jobs in Flagstaff,” Poskanzer said. “And hopefully we’ll put NAU and Flagstaff on the map with respect to the formation of new high technology companies that would be headquartered in Flagstaff.”
NAU Ventures, in a contract signed with the university, is a technology advancement plan designed to take discoveries and inventions, called invention disclosures, from faculty and student researchers and give them advice as far as getting their idea patented and commercialized. This is done through a partnership with the Northern Arizona Center for Emerging Technologies (NACET), a local business incubator. An incubator provides start-up companies with space, advice, an array of services and access to investors.
NAU Ventures is being managed by Dr. Al Poskanzer, the head of Poskanzer & Associates, a consulting business focused on technology collaboration, commercialization and licensing.
“The technology transfer plan at any university involves getting discoveries and inventions patented and licensed by private companies,” Poskanzer said. “Another goal is to contribute to the economic development of the local community.”
Poskanzer, whose experience includes being the director of technology licensing for Boeing and being the technology transfer director at ASU, said NAU Ventures encourages university professors with new research to become entrepreneurs by starting their own businesses in order to get their ideas into the market.
“Suppose you have a professor that invents a pill that cures cancer,” Poskanzer said. “They can go through NAU Ventures and we would encourage them to start their own company, and we would take that discovery from the laboratory into commercialization.”
Poskanzer said NAU Ventures is a great opportunity for NAU to show leadership to the other two research universities in Arizona as well.
“It is really setting a great example for the other two universities,” Poskanzer said. “It’s the only technological advancement program (in Arizona) that is joined at the hip with a local incubator. NAU is really setting an example for the rest of the state in this area.”
One company hoping to benefit from NAU Ventures is SenesTech Inc. Assistant Research Professor Loretta Mayer, Researcher Cheryl Dyer from the Department of Biology, and Assistant Professor Tim Vail from the Department of Chemistry founded SenesTech in 2002.
SenesTech is a company that focuses on reproductive strategies for wildlife population control.
The company’s current project is to address the overpopulation of rice field rats in southeast Asia. These rats are consuming somewhere from 10 to 50 percent of the region’s pre-harvest rice crop. Ten percent of the crop alone is enough to feed about 380 million people. SenesTech has developed bait they will be testing in the island of Java, Indonesia next month.
Mayer said SenesTech has plans for future projects, including population control for feral dogs and cats worldwide, the white-tailed deer in the northeast United States and rodents that contaminate greeneries around the world. The company, which was formerly partnered with the U of A, is now working with NAU Ventures on these projects in order to have a closer proximity.
“I hope (NAU Ventures) would provide patents and future licenses that will provide opportunities for SenesTech,” Mayer said. “Because I’m at NAU, this is where my laboratories are. This is where my ideas can be developed that will be improvements in technology.”
Laura Huenneke, NAU vice president for research, is in charge of taking research from researchers and disclosing it to NAU Ventures in order to get their advice for the next step. She is working with the initiative to go through the university files and find all the invention disclosures from the past 10 years.
NAU Ventures then looks at each disclosure and decides whether it has potential for commercialization. Between six and 12 disclosures are chosen for review for each year. NAU Ventures is also meeting with faculty and staff in order to discuss future ideas.
Huenneke said some universities have made great profit from technology expansion programs like this, such as the University of Florida when they invented Gatorade. However, she said this is not the goal for NAU.
“In our case, we’re more concerned with the professional opportunity for our faculty so we can attract and keep a higher-quality faculty,” Huenneke said. “We’re doing this more for the benefit of our faculty and our students rather than because we think we can make a couple million dollars out of it.”
She also said the program offers great benefits for students as well.
“For students, it’s an opportunity to see how creativity at the university can create business opportunities for them in the future,” Huenneke said. “The opportunity is a way to benefit the students’ education.”
Poskanzer also said he sees a bigger impact coming from NAU Ventures.
“Hopefully we’ll create more jobs in Flagstaff,” Poskanzer said. “And hopefully we’ll put NAU and Flagstaff on the map with respect to the formation of new high technology companies that would be headquartered in Flagstaff.”
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
NAU announces venture to put research into action
[Source: Inside NAU] - Northern Arizona University is launching a new initiative aimed at stimulating the local economy while speeding up the transfer of research findings into real-world applications.
The initiative, NAU Ventures, is a collaboration between the university and the Northern Arizona Center for Emerging Technologies to increase the patents, licensing opportunities and potential company spin-offs from NAU's $60 million in annual sponsored research projects.
"NAU Ventures will help Northern Arizona University in its vital role in promoting the state's economic development through companies and products arising out of innovative faculty research," said NAU President John Haeger.
Housed in NAU's Applied Research and Development building, NAU Ventures will oversee the university's technology transfer program, which works with the corporate sector to transfer discoveries into business endeavors.
NAU Ventures will help the university fulfill its goal to double its research expenditures by 2020, according to Laura Huenneke, NAU vice president for Research. "The awareness that we have local support for commercialization will be encouraging and supportive to faculty who are looking for opportunities to pursue commercial ventures within their academic careers," Huenneke said.
She added that the partnership will increase public awareness of NAU's level of innovation and creative research as well as its ability to attract financial support from private industries and corporations.
"NAU Ventures will definitely assist us in increasing our research portfolio," Huenneke said. "The next several years will be exciting and productive as we transfer more innovations from our laboratories and research centers to address compelling health, environment and other challenges."
The Northern Arizona Center for Emerging Technologies is designed to help technology startup businesses succeed.
NACET also will operate the city of Flagstaff's new technology incubator facility under development at McMillan Mesa. The 10,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility, scheduled to open in October, is designed to support the startup of life science, software and environmental technology business as part of the city's larger Flagstaff Innovation Park also under development.
"Our ultimate goal is to create much-needed high-quality job opportunities," said Tom Rainey, president of NACET, who will operate NAU Ventures for the university on a contract basis. "We understand the power of matching great ideas with the right resources. We not only link client companies to specialty labs and equipment, intellectual property and capital resources, we also create synergies through an extensive network of faculty, staff, interns and alumni from local academic institutions."
Stacey Button, director of the City of Flagstaff's new Economic Vitality Division noted, "The city of Flagstaff, NAU and NACET are working in tandem to nurture 'home grown' businesses for sustainable economic development throughout the region."
Al Poskanzer, a technology transfer professional with more than 30 years of industry experience, will manage the initiative. Poskanzer previously directed the licensing offices at Arizona State University and most recently served as director of technology at Boeing. He received the 1999 Arizona Governor's Strategic Partnership for Economic Development award for his contributions in creating and implementing the Intellectual Property Policy of the Arizona Board of Regents.
The initiative, NAU Ventures, is a collaboration between the university and the Northern Arizona Center for Emerging Technologies to increase the patents, licensing opportunities and potential company spin-offs from NAU's $60 million in annual sponsored research projects.
"NAU Ventures will help Northern Arizona University in its vital role in promoting the state's economic development through companies and products arising out of innovative faculty research," said NAU President John Haeger.
Housed in NAU's Applied Research and Development building, NAU Ventures will oversee the university's technology transfer program, which works with the corporate sector to transfer discoveries into business endeavors.
NAU Ventures will help the university fulfill its goal to double its research expenditures by 2020, according to Laura Huenneke, NAU vice president for Research. "The awareness that we have local support for commercialization will be encouraging and supportive to faculty who are looking for opportunities to pursue commercial ventures within their academic careers," Huenneke said.
She added that the partnership will increase public awareness of NAU's level of innovation and creative research as well as its ability to attract financial support from private industries and corporations.
"NAU Ventures will definitely assist us in increasing our research portfolio," Huenneke said. "The next several years will be exciting and productive as we transfer more innovations from our laboratories and research centers to address compelling health, environment and other challenges."
The Northern Arizona Center for Emerging Technologies is designed to help technology startup businesses succeed.
NACET also will operate the city of Flagstaff's new technology incubator facility under development at McMillan Mesa. The 10,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility, scheduled to open in October, is designed to support the startup of life science, software and environmental technology business as part of the city's larger Flagstaff Innovation Park also under development.
"Our ultimate goal is to create much-needed high-quality job opportunities," said Tom Rainey, president of NACET, who will operate NAU Ventures for the university on a contract basis. "We understand the power of matching great ideas with the right resources. We not only link client companies to specialty labs and equipment, intellectual property and capital resources, we also create synergies through an extensive network of faculty, staff, interns and alumni from local academic institutions."
Stacey Button, director of the City of Flagstaff's new Economic Vitality Division noted, "The city of Flagstaff, NAU and NACET are working in tandem to nurture 'home grown' businesses for sustainable economic development throughout the region."
Al Poskanzer, a technology transfer professional with more than 30 years of industry experience, will manage the initiative. Poskanzer previously directed the licensing offices at Arizona State University and most recently served as director of technology at Boeing. He received the 1999 Arizona Governor's Strategic Partnership for Economic Development award for his contributions in creating and implementing the Intellectual Property Policy of the Arizona Board of Regents.
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