Contact: Will Sansom, (210) 567-2579

John Cole, Ph.D., is interim director of South Texas Technology Management and special assistant to the vice president for research at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio.
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SAN ANTONIO (Jan. 14, 2010) — Resources have never been greater in Texas to help start-up companies, investors and entrepreneurs with new health care inventions. One of the helpful resources is South Texas Technology Management (STTM) — the regional technology transfer office serving four University of Texas institutions including the UT Health Science Center San Antonio.

STTM, which recently was called one of the key economic drivers in San Antonio by Mayor Julian Castro, hosted 150 entrepreneurs, researchers, investors and analysts for the second STTM Tech Forum on Jan. 14. The forum was in the Parman Auditorium Foyer on the Health Science Center’s Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Campus.

Technology transfer collaborations revving up
John Cole, Ph.D., interim director of STTM, said innovators at the Health Science Center are collaborating more and more with their counterparts at UT San Antonio, which STTM also serves. Dr. Cole mentioned the strong support of the governor, the UT System Board of Regents and System Chancellor Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., for tech transfer efforts, including the particular interest of Regent James D. Dannenbaum, the board’s liaison for tech transfer.

Dr. Cole gave a brief history of university-affiliated tech transfer, from the 1940s when a new paradigm of faculty creating technology and companies originated at Stanford University. Academic tech transfer now has a long record of success, principally on the East and West coasts. In recent years Texas has aggressively joined the action. “There is no reason why entirely new industries can’t be created in the back yards of Texas universities,” Dr. Cole said.

Speakers share advice, successes
Dr. Cole introduced the Tech Forum panel speakers:

• Cory Hallam, Ph.D., assistant vice president for commercialization alliances and innovation at UTSA;
  
• Michael MacNaughton, Ph.D., vice president for chemistry and chemical engineering at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI);
  
• Larry J. Miller, M.D., chief executive officer of Vidacare Corp.; and
  
• Jim Poage, CEO and president of the San Antonio Technology Accelerator Initiative (SATAI).

Speakers at the 2010 South Texas Technology Management Tech Forum included (left to right) Michael MacNaughton, Ph.D., Southwest Research Institute; Larry Miller, M.D., Vidacare Corp.; Cory Hallam, Ph.D., The University of Texas at San Antonio; Jim Poage, San Antonio Technology Accelerator Initiative; and John Cole, Ph.D., STTM. (Photo courtesy Richard Rodriguez, STTM)

Tech Entrepreneurship Boot Camp
UTSA’s Dr. Hallam discussed an innovative Tech Entrepreneurship Boot Camp that in one day gives “the A to Z of everything someone needs to start a technology company.” He also mentioned a competition during which UTSA students create prototypes and business plans for new technologies.

Contract technology research assistance
SwRI’s Dr. MacNaughton described the concept of an independent research institute that is not associated with a university or other organization. Such institutes are contract research organizations that exist to assist tech transfer, he said.

Finding capital for technology transfer
SATAI’s Poage noted that in the post-2008 economic environment entrepreneurs must initiate more contact with investors to raise needed capital. Poage titled his talk, “Kiss more frogs, raise less money.” Venture capitalists have become more averse to risk and investors are making more conservative investments, he said. The result for entrepreneurs and technology companies is that the “Valley of Death,” the period from start-up to pilot technology to product rollout, is now the “Plateau of Death.” “It takes a lot more work and time finding funding to make it through,” Poage said.

Success story
Dr. Miller collaborated with the Health Science Center on research studies that eventually led to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Vidacare’s EZ-IO®. This is a drill and catheter tip that, in seconds, provides a way to infuse fluids into the bone marrow cavity to treat accident victims whose veins have collapsed due to shock. Dr. Miller said the Health Science Center was “a huge help to us in this journey.”

Vidacare Corp. is now profitable, has raised $32 million, and has 84 patents and 13 FDA approvals. At a crucial point in Vidacare’s history, the Health Science Center agreed to take equity as payment for a research license. “We would not be here today if it were not for The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio,” Dr. Miller said.

STTM partners
STTM serves the Health Science Center, UTSA, UT Pan American and UT Brownsville, providing comprehensive intellectual property services for technologies developed by faculty, staff and students. The office is dedicated to the protection and licensing of these technologies in order to:

• further research and development,
  
• protect the interests of the faculty and the university,
  
• enhance economic development, and
  
• provide humanitarian value to the community.

For more information, visit the www.utsystem.edu/sttm/index.shtml.

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