Says licensing income from UMass academic research has surged to $54 million
Oct. 3, 2012:Income generated from the commercialization of academic research at the University of Massachusetts surged to $53.9 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, marking the second best earnings year in the history of the University, UMass President Robert L. Caret said today on the third day of his four-day, 500-mile statewide bus tour.
It was also the fourth best year for faculty members disclosing new discoveries with 172, second best year for the number of patents issued with 49, and best ever in terms of companies started with three, President Caret said, citing Fiscal Year 2012 figures provided by the University's Office of Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property (CVIP).
``Our licensing income spotlights the quality of our faculty and the excellence of our research on all five of our campuses,'' President Caret said. ``The research is extraordinarily impressive, and it is growing in importance. Its impact on the quality of life in the Commonwealth -and beyond - cannot be overstated.''
President Caret announced the new figures during a statewide bus tour to kick off the 150th anniversary next year of UMass and to celebrate the 150th anniversary this year of the Morrill Land Grant Act, the landmark legislation that created much of our national network of public higher education. His stops include facilities that highlight contributions UMass has made in technology and innovation. On Tuesday he toured Dailybreak, a Boston-based web startup founded by UMass Amherst grads; the Venture Development Center at UMass Boston, an incubator for launching high-tech businesses, where he was joined by House Speaker Robert DeLeo; and a reception with young alumni from the financial services sector at the UMass Boston Club. His four-day trip began Monday in western Massachusetts and would have encompassed stops in central Massachusetts, the South Coast, and Cape Cod by the time it ends on Thursday.
The stunning increase in licensing revenue comes a month after the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) released its FY 2011 survey that showed UMass 14th among all US universities participating in the AUTM survey, with $35 million in licensing revenue. UMass was 6th among public universities and 2nd in Massachusetts, behind MIT, in the survey.
The only other year that income from faculty-derived discoveries and products exceeded the $50 million mark was in Fiscal Year 2009 when the University received $72.1 million in licensing revenue, after an extraordinary $30 million payment from Merck for a monoclonal antibody combination developed to treat C. difficile infection, a source of infection for hospitalized patients. The payment from Merck was for technology that was developed at the Massachusetts Biological Laboratories of UMass Medical School.
The $53.9 million in licensing income for Fiscal Year 2012 was largely generated by discoveries and products developed by the Medical School and Mass Biologics.
Of the three startups launched, a company called Sevo Nutraceuticals, Inc. is marketing a nutraceutical (nutrition and pharmaceutical) product based on technology developed by biological science professor Dr. Thomas Shea of UMass Lowell to improve cognitive abilities.
The startup Texifter, LLC uses software technology - developed by Dr. Stuart Shulman, professor of political science and the Director of the Qualitative Data Analysis Program at UMass Amherst - that streamlines the process of sorting large amounts of unstructured data.
A third company, TeraBAT, Inc., is a medical diagnostics startup using terawaves technology developed by former UMass Amherst researcher Dr. Eyal Gerecht. Its novel, real time detection platform identifies biomolecules present in exhaled breath that are indicative of a disease state.
Contact: Ann Scales, 617-287-4084; Robert P. Connolly, 617-287-7073