Marketing Potential of University Water Research Increasingly Noted

Universities and private sector find common interests

by Joe Gelt

When a university is said to be in the business of education, research and public service, the word “business” takes on different shadings than when used to describe profit-making activities in the private sector. Universities are not usually thought of as businesses with goods or services to sell — although parents or students struggling to pay tuition bills may at times feel otherwise.

Universities, however, are increasingly committed to marketing their researchers’ technical and scientific discoveries, to promote economic development within the state and earn profit to support university operations. In adopting certain policies and procedures and working out cooperative arrangements with private sector organizations, universities nationwide are striving to establish a credible entrepreneurial climate or environment.

The movement has its celebrity achievers. Gatorade and Google were both developed at universities, providing significant profit to the University of Florida and Stanford University respectively.
Water researchers at Arizona universities may not come up with anything as high-profile as Gatorade or Google, but they have the intellectual talent and expertise to contribute to the technological needs of the state’s industries and businesses. Although some patenting and licensing of water research results have occurred, the potential exists for much more to be done.

University Water Resource Patented

The most successful university operation to patent and license water-related work is the University of Arizona’s Engineering Center for Environmentally Benign Semiconductor Manufacturing (ERC). A cooperative venture that includes industrial interests, government agencies and various universities, the center conducts research on the specialized water needs of the semiconductor industry. The center has about 30 patent disclosures, with 10 of them water-related.

Some of ERC patents are related to water purification and treatment, including processes that use novel membranes for low-energy ultra-purification of large quantities of water at high flow rates. Other patents deal with novel oxidation methods for removal of trace impurities. There also is patented technology on novel sensors for contamination monitoring in water as well as patented technology for simulation and design of large water recycling systems for recovery and reuse of water in complex industrial settings.

Also, an Arizona State University researcher has patented and licensed a desalination and water treatment process. The process has both large-scale industrial application and the potential for humanitarian use. Its design is sufficiently simple that it can be used in Third World countries in need of purified drinking water.

Other university water researchers are in the process of working out the details for patenting their work. For example, a researcher from UA’s Sustainability of Semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas (SAHRA) has developed a new method of water metering with the likely potential to be patented and licensed.

Water Research Potential

This work may be just a beginning. A recent report, commissioned by the Arizona Commerce and Economic Development Commission and the Arizona Department of Commerce, indicates that university water researchers are likely to have a bright future in contributing to the technological needs of the state’s industries and businesses. The Battelle Memorial Institute report evaluated which university research areas could best support state efforts to build an economic future through private-public partnerships between industry, higher education and government.

Released in March, 2004, the Battelle Report singled out the areas of hydrology and water resources for special attention stating, “The University of Arizona is #1 nationally in hydrology; add to that distinction the four water centers, each dealing with a different problem area, and Arizona State University’s and Northern Arizona University’s contributions, and Arizona has arguably the world’s biggest and best water resource portfolio.”

Further, the report goes on to say that Arizona has attracted companies and industries committed to sustainability — and has the potential to attract additional such businesses. Viewed as a force to drive future world-wide economic development, sustainability is described as a development that meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. According to the report, the ecological sciences, including water research, have a central role in this present and emerging market.
Arizona water researchers might well take note.

Other factors also figure into the potential for increased university-industry cooperation. ERC Director Farhang Shadman believes the times are propitious for such cooperation because industries have been cutting back on research and are increasingly depending on universities to do basic research and come up with ideas. At the same time, universities are looking to the private sector to fund research. He says, “So the need is mutual.”

This promoting of university research products as a marketable commodity is a relatively recent development. Universities serve as an intellectual resource to the state, educating citizens and providing information and expertise to help address state problems and concerns. University researchers have generally undertaken their work as a type of public or community service.

And this tradition continues. For example, the web site for the UA’s SAHRA program allows free access to models, algorisms and soft ware and provides instructions and sample sets. A quote on the web site has a decidedly non-marketing slant: “An idea is not a possession. To share it freely is to nudge the door to freedom a little wider open.”

Also, not to be overlooked is researchers’ commitment to publish. Ian Pepper, director of the UA Water Quality Center says, “The number one goal of all the research we do funded by the private sector is to publish in peer-review journals.” He considers the use of research to solve community problems as a “wonderful bonus.”

Universities’ Entrepreneurial Environment

A university researcher works under far different conditions than the legendary solitary inventor tinkering in his garage. University researchers believing they have a marketable product must work through a bureaucracy to patent and license their work. According to Arizona Board of Regents’ policy, the university owns whatever products are created by researchers using university resources.

The university’s technical transfer office serves as a resource to university researchers seeking to market their discoveries. The office, however, is not a researcher’s first stop. Shadman describes a researcher’s preliminary steps before approaching the UA Office of Technology Transfer. He says, “A patent disclosure is filed and this goes to the department and the college for review. ... It then goes to the vice president for research and the office of tech transfer. They evaluate it and decide if it is worth patenting.” If a product appears marketable, the technical transfer office will pay for the patenting.

The technical transfer office negotiates details with the private sector when working out an agreement to market a researcher’s product. Whatever agreements are worked out must be compatible with the way the state and university do business. Shadman says there is no set formula when the university negotiates with a business or industry, with details varying depending upon the unique circumstances of each transaction.

A company that is marketing a research discovery pays the university an annual licensing fee. After the product is commercialized, a percentage of the profits also goes to the university. The university uses a formula to distribute the funds, with a certain percentage going to the university, the college, the department and the researcher.

Complications

When a private sector company negotiates with a university some issues may arise due to a university’s unique mission and form of governance. For example, the university’s ownership of products created by its researchers can add complications to negotiations. A project currently under legal review involves a university researcher working on a halophyte plant breeding program. Both a private sector entity and the university funded the research. Controversy arose over who has the rights to newly developed lines of plants — the private sector partner or the university.

Consider also a situation relating to a university’s status as a public institution and its effect on cost negotiations with private sector interests. Shadman explains: “The university is a publicly funded institution. You have to decide how much taxpayers have already paid and whether they have access to something without paying for it again. Then you have to allow a private company to make a profit. This can be a fine line.”

Also the fact that a university’s priority is research and teaching adds a constraint. A private company cannot expect to restrict information obtained through a university license if the information could benefit teaching or research.

University Researchers as Entrepreneurs

A key player in a university’s effort to market research results is the researcher. Not only is he or she the specialist who best knows the research and its potential, but the researcher has a role in negotiating with private sector interests. To do this effectively requires some entrepreneurial talents.

Shadman says, “Initial contacts have to be made by (the researcher). The academic people have to be there as glue. The industry or company does not know the university, just the principal investigator who came up with the idea. ... They want to deal with the PI.” Further, researchers may find their services needed even after negotiations are finalized, to work with a company as the product is commercialized.

University researchers are not always comfortable dealing with the private sector. Some believe the effort required to work out successful negotiation takes time and resources from their true interests — research and teaching. Others feel they are not temperamentally suited for the task

UA microbiologist Chuck Gerba felt out-of-place in the entrepreneurial role. He says, “You need to be a real promoter to knock on doors until someone bites. ... I think that is difficult for a university professor. We are used to writing grants, and I think (salesmanship) is a role we are not really trained for.”

Some believe university researchers will readily learn to cope as private sector funding becomes more available. W. Scott Stornetta, a technology transfer consultant working in higher education, views it as part of a historical process. He says that before WW II universities funded their researchers’ work. Outside government funding then became available after the war, and the faculty learned to tap into this new source of research funds.

Stornetta says the emerging movement is for researchers to approach the private sector for support. He says some researchers may be uncomfortable at first but believes they will adapt as researchers did after World War II to a new situation.

Pepper raises another concern, that university researchers at times have lacked the right attitude for working with the private sector. He says, “There has been a little bit of arrogance from certain sectors of academia, whereas basic research is pure and good and anything funded by the private sector is dirty money. That’s ludicrous. Clearly the way of the future is going to be the integration of academics with the private sector and government and non-government organizations.”

Promoting Technology Transfer

Recent developments in the state demonstrate an official interest and commitment to further promote the marketing of university inventions, a process also known as technology transfer. In 2000, voters approved Proposition 301 which increased the state sales tax to provide educational funding. Proposition 301 revenues going to the universities established the Technology and Research Initiative Fund. The University of Arizona used its TRIF funds to support and expand various research areas including water. (See newsletter supplement for description of TRIF-supported water research.)

The research areas selected for TRIF funding needed to show that the additional support would build on existing university high-priority strengths and that the work promoted collaboration with, and support of active southern Arizona industry clusters. Along with specific research areas, TRIF funding also is designated to support technology transfer activities at both the UA and ASU. Available until 2006, TRIF funding is expected to result in moving new discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace.

A recent UA budget request also adds to the water research and technology transfer momentum. The UA is seeking $10 million for a water studies program that would be a collaborative effort with ASU and Northern Arizona University. The program would address state water problems and promote technology transfer.

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