UTSA Hosts Inaugural Innovation Awards to Recognize Research Excellence

By Christi Fish
Director of Communications

(Dec. 2, 2013) -- To recognize excellence in research and innovation, UTSA President Ricardo Romo, Interim Vice President for Research Mauli Agrawal and the UTSA Office of Commercialization and Innovation will host the inaugural UTSA Innovation Awards from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 4 in the Main Building Regents Room (MB 3.106) on the UTSA Main Campus.

The new UTSA awards highlight the outstanding progress the university has made to foster innovation and technology commercialization among its faculty researchers.

This year's inaugural ceremony will spotlight the efforts of 16 scholars who have greatly contributed to creating a university environment that promotes innovation. Thirteen of those recipients will be honored for the patents they were issued during the past fiscal year. Two additional researchers will be honored for receiving licensing revenue for their discoveries.

Additionally, UTSA will name its inaugural Innovator of the Year. The award recognizes the UTSA faculty member with the highest innovation productivity based on technology disclosures, patent filings, issued patents and licenses signed over the past fiscal year.

Since fiscal year 2008, UTSA has built a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem to encourage faculty and students to develop and commercialize innovative products and discoveries. That environment includes:

• academic programs of study to spur entrepreneurship and technology management, technology development and technology transfer;

• research administration support through the UTSA Office of the Vice President for Research and the Office of Commercialization and Innovation that includes a clear invention disclosure and patenting process as well as a structure to help researchers explore licensing partners;

• a generous royalty policy, by higher education industry standards, that allows UTSA researchers to split revenue from license fees and royalties with the university 50/50;

• a New Venture Incubator to help UTSA faculty and students move their ideas from the university to marketplace;

• the bi-annual Center for Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship (CITE) Boot Camp, a daylong crash course allowing entrepreneurs from throughout the region to explore key topics to nurture a successful start-up;

• CITE's $100,000 Student Technology Venture Competition, which allows undergrads the opportunity to develop and market an actual technology before they graduate;

• a regional network of partners and supporters such as the Commercialization Council, an elite group of C-suite executives dedicated to creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem in San Antonio, and SBIR, STTR and ETF partnerships, among others

"Technology innovation and commercialization are significant focus areas for top-tier universities," said Cory Hallam, UTSA Chief Commercialization Officer. "It's great to have researchers developing new products and technologies that have the potential to improve lives. It's even better when we see those ideas moving from the university to the marketplace where they can positively impact society."

For more about UTSA's Innovation Awards, visit research.utsa.edu/commercialization/innovation_awards.php.

Connect online with UTSA at www.utsa.edu, www.facebook.com/utsa, www.twitter.com/utsa, www.youtube.com/utsa or www.utsa.edu/today.