The University of South Florida's innovation efforts have brought over $500 million in the last year to the Sunshine State, according to a new report.
Miami-based Washington Economics Group released data on Tuesday which shows USF has infused $582 million from fiscal year 2018-19 to Florida through its Research Park. That includes the Technology Transfer Office, which manages new inventions from USF faculty and students, and the Tampa Bay Technology Incubator, which is run by the USF Office of Corporate Partnerships.
That's an increase of more than 45 percent over the last three years, and a 35 percent increase of private and public sector jobs since 2016. The total number also returns more than $71 million in tax revenue to local, state and federal entities.
The Tampa Bay region has been directly impacted, receiving $548 million of the university's annual impact. A total 1,992 people are directly employed in jobs that have come from USF's innovation enterprise, with another 2,068 jobs created among companies that provide goods and services to the university's enterprise.
USF has also ranked among the top 10 of American public research universities in generating new U.S. patents for the past nine years.
Innovation and patent production has ranked high over the years among USF officials, with newly elected president Steven Currall also understanding the economic impact innovation can have on the Tampa Bay area.
"The university can play this catalyst role and see itself not just as educating students and doing research, but really being a player in economic development through these spinout companies and the development of intellectual property," he said in a previous interview with Tampa Bay Inno.
And the university has a slew of efforts to ensure patent production, innovation and ultimately, spinout companies continue to flow from USF. USF's tech transfer office oversees all things patents — from creation to feasibility to fruition — and is creating partnerships with businesses so both sides benefit. There's also Seed Florida, which USF helped create alongside Florida Funders. It uses Florida Funders' model of investing in early-stage, low-revenue startups and crowdsourcing funds from investors.
“The federal government says every dollar of research equals $2.1 of economic impact,” Paul Sanberg, senior vice president of USF’s Research Innovation and Knowledge enterprise, said in a previous interview with the Tampa Bay Business Journal. “So if it’s $500 million, you’re looking at over $1 billion in economic impact. In our research we’re creating $1.2 billion and it stays in Tampa primarily.”
