SEATTLE — The University of Washington launched 17 new start-up companies in the past fiscal year based on UW research technologies, making 2013 the school’s single most productive year for start-up formation and placing it among the top five colleges in the nation for commercialization efforts, along with MIT, the University of Illinois, the University of Utah, UCLA and Columbia University.
The creation of 17 new companies is nearly double the amount of companies created on average each of the previous five years, UW officials announced in a press release. In February 2012, UW President Michael Young set a goal to double the number of UW start-ups in three years. The UW has reached this goal two years ahead of schedule.
This year’s 17 start-ups span a broad range of businesses — medical devices, therapeutics, clean technology and software — all born from the UW’s Center for Commercialization (C4C).
“Our inventors take ideas that are barely imaginable today and make them tomorrow’s reality,” Young said in the news release. “The ingenuity and innovation of University of Washington students, faculty and staff are improving people’s daily lives here and around the world.”
Over the past five years, C4C has increasingly funded prototype design, business model development and market validation, and helped UW researchers win federal money for technology commercialization. C4C’s mentoring programs give UW researchers access to experienced entrepreneurs from both the UW faculty and the region at large. Seattle’s top venture attorneys coach UW start-ups through the investment process, and venture capitalists and business leaders help UW start-ups recruit some of the region’s top executive talent.
“From our No. 1 national ranking in the number of licenses signed, to the increasing number of inventions disclosed and patents filed, and now the number of start-up companies generated, the University of Washington is among the top universities in the nation taking ideas to impact,” Linden Rhoads, C4C vice provost, said in the news release. “C4C brings together UW’s entrepreneurial researchers with investors and industry experts. UW faculty and students have access to more — and more experienced — business talent than ever before. ”
UW’s 2013 start-ups
GenetikSignal provides novel screening methods for discovering anti-aging drugs.
ID Genomics will provide rapid assessment of virulent bacteria in medical clinics allowing for same-day pathogen identification and enabling lifesaving choices for urgent care.
JointMetrix Medical pioneered the use of remote monitoring in orthopaedics by developing a body-worn sensor, a smartphone app and a clinician report that together comprise a system used to remotely monitor patients before and after joint surgery. Their initial product, a knee monitoring system, is currently in use at UW Medical Center.
KitoTech Medical developed revolutionary proprietary technology for closing deep wounds with KitoStitch. It’s fast like staples, painless like a Steri-Strip and easy to use as a Band-Aid.
LumiSands, Inc., developed a cheaper eco-friendly material that replaces an important component of LED lights.
Marine Construction Technologies developed a novel marine pile design that can reduce noise from impact pile driving to below injury threshold for sensitive fish and other wildlife.
NanoFacture, Inc., brought to market a technology that rapidly concentrates and purifies DNA using a simple protocol with yields comparable to that of popular commercial kits, but at a much lower cost.
Nova TheraNostics LLC developed a brighter, longer lasting, safer Magnetic Resonance Imaging contrast agent.
Owl Outcomes is a software-as-a-service that enables health and wellness providers to easily track their patients’ progress over time through an extensive digital library of assessment measures and use results to collaboratively develop evidence-based treatment plans.
PatientStream provides a suite of cloud-based applications that increases hospital operating room efficiencies by replacing whiteboards with an automated, information exchange incorporating cutting-edge display technology.
RGB Hats LLC released a new computer security-themed card game titled Control-Alt-HackTM: White Hat Hacking for Fun and Profit. The game was created to expose people to the world of computer security while they play.
Rosetta@Cloud offers affordable, cloud-based, pay-per-use molecular modeling and related services to the biotech and pharmaceutical industry that expedites the drug discovery R&D process and dramatically reduces costs.
Second Wind applies the basic principles of wind energy to convert the air stream of building ventilation exhausts into useful energy.
SNUPI Technologies is a sensor and services company focused on home safety, security and loss prevention.
Stella Therapeutics developed first-in-class small molecules that hold the promise of curing a highly aggressive brain cancer while maintaining patient quality of life
VitalTalk, a nonprofit with the mission of nurturing healthier connections between patients and clinicians through communication skills courses for clinicians, launched an iPhone app.
One company is as yet unnamed.
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