Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE), the exclusive intellectual property management and technology transfer organization of Arizona State University, today joined with the tech transfer offices of Caltech, UCLA and USC to host Head Start(up) 2011, a half-day conference in Palo Alto giving Silicon Valley investors a look at some of the universities most promising startups and venture-ready technologies.
The commercialization of university research generates new jobs, new companies and even entire new industries, said Augie Cheng, AzTEs managing director. The startups and technologies that ASU, Caltech, UCLA and USC are presenting have that same potential, and were excited to be doing this in a forum loaded with top venture capital firms and angel investors.
Universities continue to conduct the majority of basic research in the United States. In the last two decades, more than 75 percent of all industrial patents issued in the United States have cited academic research as a key source of new knowledge. Studies have also shown companies spun out of research universities have a far greater success rate than other startups.
Investors are always on the lookout for the next great university startup, said Steve Jurvetson, managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. This event is a great way to see lots of technologies in a concentrated, efficient format. Im excited to see what the universities have to show us.
Approximately 60 invitation-only investors came from top Silicon Valley venture funds, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Intel Capital, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Redpoint Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Sofinnova Ventures and many others.
A full list of presented technologies and startups can be found on the conference website: http://www.headstartup2011.com/technologies.
About Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE)
AzTE is a non-profit organization that operates as the exclusive intellectual property management and technology transfer organization for ASU and its research enterprise. Comprised of industry and university veterans, AzTE brings together ASUs researchers and industry partners to transform discoveries into marketable products and services, taking innovation out of the lab and into the commercial marketplace. AzTE currently offers for licensing more than 300 novel technologies in the life and physical sciences. For more information: http://www.azte.com/.
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