UO Program in Innovation and Entrepreneurship Helps Drive Local Economic Development
When UO alum Nathan Lillegard ’98 returned to UO in 2005 to pursue his MBA, he wanted to learn the skills that would allow him to run a start-up company, but didn’t think that’s what he’d be doing in 2006. But by the time he finished his MBA degree, Lillegard was at the helm of Floragenex, Inc , a fledgling biotechnology company, based on research from the lab of UO Associate Professor of Biology Eric Johnson.
As a business student, Lillegard participated in the Technology Entrepreneurship Program (TEP) which brings together business, law, and science graduate students in teams that evaluate technologies while learning the principles of entrepreneurship, and then apply both experiences to planning start-up companies. The cross-disciplinary teams create business plans for ideas that represent valid business opportunities, participate in national and international business plan competitions in the winter and spring terms, and in some cases, form companies and negotiate licenses for the technology. The TEP includes students from both UO and Oregon State University and the technologies originate from research projects at UO, Oregon State University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and TechLink. Since 2001, 249 graduate students have received training in entrepreneurship at UO. Along the way, approximately 200 community leaders have served as mentors, guest speakers, and judges in local competitions. Lillegard credits TEP with teaching him how to look at technologies from a business perspective and identifying where the opportunity exists to translate a technology into a business opportunity.
The TEP also led to Perpetua Power Source Technologies Inc., founded by UO MBA graduate Jon Hofmeister in 2005. Perpetua designs and manufactures cost-effective and easy-to-integrate renewable thermoelectric energy solutions for wireless sensors–essentially batteries that last forever. Perpetua recently won the prestigious R&D 100 Award, which provides a mark of excellence known to industry, government, and academia, naming the Perpetua Power Puck™ as one of the 100 most innovative products worldwide this year. Perpetua has grown rapidly and now employs over 20 people. Jon credits the UO Lundquist Center of Entrepreneurship (LCE) for being instrumental to Perpetua’s founding and growth. “The LCE provided the perfect base for trialing business models with great professors, successful entrepreneurs, and talented students.”
Along with TEP, Perpetua was a participant in the University Development Fund (UVDF). The UVDF supports Entrepreneurship Education, including TEP, as well as two grant programs: one supporting start-up companies that have a licensing relationship with the UO, by funding strategically important projects designed to enhance their business prospects, and a second grant program for faculty members who have promising innovations that they want to take closer to commercial reality. Funding for the UVDF comes from UO donors, with a unique incentive—qualifying donors can receive Oregon state income-tax credits worth up to 60 percent of the value of their gifts, in addition to the federal tax deduction.
Floragenex is another recent beneficiary of one of the UVDF grant, as is MitoSciences, Inc., helmed by CEO and UO Alum John Audette. MitoSciences was founded in 2004 by UO professors Roderick Capaldi and Michael Marusich to advance understanding of the role of mitochondria (structures responsible for energy production in cells) in human diseases. It now has 26 employees and is the leading developer of anti-mitochondrial antibodies, mitochondrial assays, and products and services for mitochondrial toxicity screening. The UVDF grant supports MitoSciences’ development of the first-ever diagnostic test for mitochondrial disorders. Through the TEP and UVDF, the University of Oregon is able to see its research discoveries translated into commercial applications, but perhaps more importantly, it’s also able to support community development—Floragenex, Perpetua and MitoSciences, as well as 14 other startup companies related to UO research, all remain headquartered in Oregon.
For more information on the UO’s Technology Entrepreneurship Program go to http://lcb.uoregon.edu/entrepreneur/fellows.html