ANN ARBOR ? One of the highlights this year at the 24th Michigan Growth Capital Symposium will be the awarding of Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm?s University-ACE ? a recognition designed to inspire and reward a public university researcher and key team members whose research advances the development and commercialization of new technologies.
Two Aces (Award for Commercialization Excellence), along with two grants of $25,000 will be handed out on June 15 by Granholm. One ACE will be awarded to researchers at universities that generate more than $100 million in research expenditures annually, and one to universities under the $100 million threshold. Only Wayne State University, Michigan State University and the University of Michigan fall into the upper category. The other 12 Michigan universities compete for the latter ACE.
Three finalists in each category will be announced on June 1, said Daniel Hurley, Director of University Relations and Administrative Services Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan. Two review committees, one for each category, will convene in early to mid April to evaluate the nineteen applications received from seven Michigan universities.
?Half of Michigan universities are participating,?? said Ken Paulus of the Michigan Economic Development Corp., who has been spearheading the competition. ?There?s a very large disparity when dealing with Research and Development from the University of Michigan (No. 2 in the nation for total R&D grants awarded) and Northern Michigan University. Northern has little commercialization going on and are not involved heavily in the hard sciences like WSU, UM and MSU.?
The money will go directly to researchers in hopes it will be invested directly into a company commercializing that research, Paulus said. The ACE is the only state government commercialization grant program of its kind in the nation, he said.
?We feel focusing on commercialization and the impetus behind this award to give recognition and credit to the faculty members will drive revenue back to the universities in the form of licensing fees,? Paulus said. ?Michigan has a real opportunity in this arena. Last year the state spends $1.3 billion on R&D and received back $44 million in revenue from commercialization of projects.
?Imagine if we had $100 million in licensing opportunities at all 15 state universities,? he said. ?Looking at the budget constraints the governor is under; doesn?t it make sense to refocus the basic research we?re already doing towards commercialization??
Mike Brennan is Editor & Publisher of Mitechnews.Com, a technology and entrepreneurial web portal for Michigan and the Midwest. To view this site, click on Mitechnews.Com
