Three College of Technology faculty inventors are involved in the Division of Research Office of Intellectual Property Management (OPM) technology commercialization program, which is in conjunction with the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship (WCE) in the Bauer College of Business. Under the guidance of WCE faculty, this program fosters partnerships among UH faculty inventors, student teams from the WCE senior undergraduate class and external business mentors. These student teams use the faculty member’s Intellectual Property to develop a business plan and commercialization pathway around with the goal of competing in national-level business plan competitions.
Technology researchers in the present round of this joint program are Dr. George Zouridakis — “Image Analysis System for Screening of Skin Lesions”, Dr. Luca Pollonini — “Clinical Monitoring of Blood-flow in Skin-Flaps”, and Dr. Deniz Gurkan — “Emergency Management Portal”.
Eight different technologies are progressing through this program, with the hope that some of these teams will garner enough external investment to consider forming a faculty start-up or spin-off company at the University of Houston.
“This is an excellent opportunity for our faculty inventors who have willingly agreed to engage in this process. Their ongoing commitment and dedication to these students are immeasurable investments,” said Dr. William Fitzgibbon, Dean of the College of Technology.
By the end of the academic year, it is expected that several teams will have been successful in national-level business plan competitions. The commercial plans that the students have developed on behalf of their respective faculty inventors will lay the groundwork for the formation of a number of faculty start-up/spin-off companies at UH.