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National Academy of Inventors Fellow George Gokel and his research team recently earned funding through UM System’s FastTrack program to help optimize their research to position their technology for clinical trials and potential commercial partnerships. This video demonstrates the university’s desire to grow its entrepreneurs by empowering them through opportunities and mentoring. UMSL’s example of this culture is displayed through Dr. Gokel’s work at UMSL’s Center for Nanoscience. Moving forward, the university culture must be diverse enough to broaden the definitions of success by valuing invention, innovation and entrepreneurship.

EyeVerify, a Kansas City startup, commercialized a UMKC biometric technology developed by Dr. Reza Derakhshani, associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering. This technology continues to earn national and international recognition. This video takes viewers through the collaborative process that led to an exclusive licensing agreement. This story is a solid example of what university intellectual property licensing can bring about. Success stories like this can happen with any university technology if the right people are presented the right kind of opportunity at the right time.

Recently, the university loosened its operating policy with respect to intellectual property ownership to bring more direct industry investment in its research. This change empowers faculty to make decisions on IP ownership when industry sponsors and reduces the barriers when growing their research program. In this video, Dr. Krishna Krishnamurthy from Missouri S&T and others from MU go into detail about the value the policy change brings to the university and how it has already strengthened industry partnerships and enhanced research agreements in the first two years.

Hao Li, MU professor and President of Nanova Biomaterials, Inc. (NBI), a university spin-off company, exhibits a solid example of research-to-commercialization success. This video ties together a strong network of university researchers whose work centers around medical technologies. The Missouri Research Quadrangle comes to life through these rich examples. Through its synergistic culture, the university has established experts in this area. This network, formed among the campuses and other partners, sets university researchers up for endless collaborative opportunities leading the effort to best-in-class. Connections like these are abundant across the system.