<p>UNABASHEDLY ENTREPRENEURIAL
UW-Madison may be the only major US research university that allows its researchers, faculty, as well as students, to retain ownership of discoveries (unless federal funds are involved). "It's important in faculty recruitment," says Gulbrandsen. "It gives the faculty more control and makes them happier."</p>
<p>If the university is the research engine, then WARF is the transmission that translates discoveries into products. The nation's first university tech transfer office, WARF was established in 1925 at the prompting of UW-Madison biochemistry professor Harry Steenbock to commercialize his vitamin D irradiation technology. Rather than accepting $1 million from the Quaker Oats Company for exclusive rights to his technology, Steenbock allowed WARF to license his patent widely, generating even more funds for university research.</p>
<p>Over the past 80 years, WARF has amassed more than $1 billion in licensing revenues and returned $750 million to university research, including $46.6 million last year alone. Today, WARF has thousands of patents in its portfolio and more than 3,600 technologies ready for licensing. Recognized as a model tech transfer office, WARF last year was awarded the Presidential National Medal of Technology for innovation.</p>
<p>But licensing is only the beginning. UW-Madison actively encourages faculty to start up companies from their discoveries. The university's Office of Corporate Relations sponsors an entrepreneur's center that offers CEO mentoring programs, assistance in writing business plans, and finding capital. WARF even has a small $10 million venture capital fund for occasional investments in promising companies. WARF currently has equity positions in 34 university-related startups and evaluates proposals for 12 to 15 more each year, Gulbrandsen says.</p>
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<p>SPINNING OFF DISCOVERIES
Many of these companies, such as Third Wave Technologies, Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals, Neoclone Biotechnology International, NimbleGen Systems, and Quintessence Biosciences, are emerging as leaders in Madison's biotech community. Mike Sussman, head of UW-Madison's Biotechnology Center, was one of three scientific cofounders behind NimbleGen Systems, a company that manufactures customized, high-density microarrays for genotyping and toxicity screening based on technologies developed at UW-Madison. "We just made a better light bulb," Sussman says.</p>