A record number of University of Minnesota research-led startups launched in the past year, according to recently released statistics by the university’s Office of the Vice President for Research.
The office’s technology commercialization arm, which brings technology discovered through university research to the market — a process also known as tech transfer — saw 22 startups launch in the fiscal year ended June 30. That's the highest-ever number of startups spun out of the university’s Venture Center in a year’s time (it bested last year's total, also a record, by two.)
Since the center was formed in 2006, it has launched 215 startups, hitting the 200th startup milestone earlier this year with a company called Knine Biotech, which uses AI to detect early cancer in dogs. (The center is off to a strong start for the 2023 fiscal year, with three startups launched since July 1.)
Rick Huebsch, executive director for the university’s technology commercialization arm, said he attributes the continued growth to the university’s increasing culture of entrepreneurship, the Venture Center’s resources, and an improved startup ecosystem in Minnesota.
“We can definitely be happy with our numbers and the growth, and the continued growth,” Huebsch said.
Startups included in the data are those launched from university research, conducted by faculty, staff or sometimes graduate students. Of those that have launched between 2006 and 2022 fiscal years, 77% of them have survived and 71% are located in Minnesota, the data show.
Since 2017, 10 university companies have since been acquired or gone public, including Miromatrix and Flipgrid, according to the Venture Center website. Of 210 startups launched out of the university, total investment has equaled about $1.8 billion, including $675 million in IPOs and acquisitions, said a 2022 university survey included in the statistics.
To bring technology to market, the university also licenses inventions to existing companies or partners with businesses through its Minnesota Innovation Partnerships program, according to a description of the university's technology commercialization.
A part of the process includes patenting the university research-driven inventions. In this area, the recently released statistics show another significant figure: it had 241 U.S. and foreign patents issued this past year, up from 181 last year. Factors contributing to this higher number include more foreign filings, Huebsch said, as well as good applications and catching up on a backlog due to the pandemic, according to a university presentation on the statistics.
“The numbers that you see there are ... a reflection of a long investment in both research and time and effort by our office to protect those inventions with intellectual property,” Huebsch said.
The office saw a dip in invention disclosures, which Huebsch attributed to a slowdown in research during the pandemic. “We're a lagging indicator of that,” he said, “but I think it's still a very healthy rate.” There were 315 disclosures this year compared to 332 last year, the data show.
The university signed 211 new licenses, has 469 current revenue-generating agreements and received $16.1 million in gross revenue, which the university receives from licensing agreements. Each of these figures were below what they were last year, the data show.
Still, Huebsch said, gross revenue remains at a “very healthy level.”
The university recently ranked high for its tech transfer efforts, according to a report released this year by Heartland Forward, a nonprofit that works to improve economic performance in a 20-state center region of the U.S. It placed first among the states in the heartland region, and fifth among U.S. public universities, the report said.
“We perform year after year as a university, and as an office, I think these numbers are impressive,” Huebsch said. “We attribute that to being a great university that does this great research and then also being able to capitalize on that research.”
