GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) – Happy Tech Tuesday. I’m Melanie Moron here at US Innovate and I’m joined by Jim O’Connell. Jim, thanks so much for joining us today.
Very glad to be here.
So tell me, what do you do here at UF?
My title is the Assistant Vice President of Commercialization, and in short, what that means is that I’m in charge of converting a billion dollars in research out of the university research arm to get it, move it on, and get it into the public good.
And what is a Standing Innovation Award?
Standing Innovation is about recognizing our innovators, and that’s the people who invent and come up with all the invention disclosures on an annual basis, and then also recognizing the person who we feel has done the most to actually move that technology out into the public good . This year was Dr. Barry Burn.
And why is this so important to recognize these inventors?
Faculty need the feedback. They need to understand that what they do is impactful and not just by waiting for a company success but for getting that feedback that looks, we need that disclosure from your research and we recognize you for it.
This marks the fifth year of Standing Innovation, what are you looking forward to in the next five years?
Next five years, that’s big. I would say we’re looking forward to more company success, increased number of disclosures, and an increase in the variety of different kinds of disclosures we get.
Why is this so important to use UF Innovate Tech Licensing for any startups?
Because we are number two in the country, we’re literally number two in the country. We’re really good at what we do and we do it here in Gainesville, went Gainesville Forum.
And to wrap up this event, what were your thoughts on it?
I’d love being able to recognize the adventures, the Innovators, when I get the word out, that we are excited about hearing more on your disclosures and want to say that we can’t do it without you.
And for anyone who is looking to invent anything and be a startup in a company, what is your advice to them?
Get in touch with us early.
Thank you, Jim, for joining us today. And that’s it for today’s Tech Tuesday episode. We’ll catch you next week
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