Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • September 2, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 21 The institute isn't part of any particular academic discipline, and only reports to the provost, Noble said. That gives Noble wide latitude to sponsor entrepreneurship programs with ties to many different fields of study. For now, Noble said, the insti- tute is preparing to launch a slate of core curriculum and elective entrepre- neurship courses this fall. And according to AUTM data, UConn's invention and startup output is better than average. For example, one of the metrics AUTM CEO Stephen Susalka uses to judge the efficacy of entrepreneurship programs is the amount of money spent per invention. Between 2015 and 2017, UConn spent $540.8 million and produced 223 inventions, which comes out to $2.4 million per invention. That's slightly better than the national average of $2.7 million, Susalka said. "They're clearly doing very well with what they have," Susalka said, noting the university also produced an aver- age of three companies per year dur- ing that three-year time period. "All in all UConn seems to be very strong." From the classroom to the lab About 35 miles from the Storrs campus stands UConn's Technology Incubator Program in Farmington, where more than 30 tech startups work at building their companies. One of those is LambdaVision, a UConn spinoff founded in 2009 based on discoveries made in a professor's lab, said Nicole Wagner, the com- pany's chief executive, who was a Ph.D. student in LambdaVision's early days. The company uses proteins discov- ered in the research lab to build retina implants that fight blindness. "I think some of the ways that UConn has supported us has been through in- kind support," Wagner said. "Mentors, business advisors, people to help us with coming up with business plans." UConn also is home to Tech Trans- fer & Venture Development, which aims to streamline the process of turning lab discoveries into products. But even though resources exist at UConn, the pension liabilities make it more expensive to hire graduate assistants, said Michael Bailey, execu- tive director of UConn's branch of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). "When a current faculty member has an opportunity to use research grant money that he's received to hire people, he [must] hire fewer people, because of the high cost of labor," Bailey said. "That hurts the amount of research that the faculty can produce," and hinders outside entrepreneurs looking for a homebase. Further, doubling research funding could be a difficult feat, Susalka said, since so much research at universities has historically been funded by federal grants. "Probably the big challenge in doubling research … is the percentage of dollars coming from the federal government has been steadily decreasing," Susalka said. Tom Peters, a professor of computer science, engineering and math, also warns against putting too much stock in Katsouleas' vision taking shape anytime soon. Peters came to UConn by way of the entrepreneurial world — he served as chief technology officer at a West Cost startup, and spent time working in MIT's Draper Lab. Peters said that in addition to the pension problem, stakeholders who seem gung-ho about the next big company coming out of UConn might be expecting quick results from an innovation process that's often slow to produce anything. "These things don't come easily," said Peters, who added he supports the school's entrepreneurship efforts. "There's a lot of failure, and there is a lot of time, and a fair amount of investment that's necessary to make those work." HARTFORDMARATHON.COM Media Sponsor CROSS THE FINISH LINE UNDER THE ICONIC ARCH IN HARTFORD SATURDAY OCTOBER 12 2019 MARATHON / HALF MARATHON TEAM 26.2 RELAY CHARITY 5K / FITKIDS Nicole Wagner, chief executive of UConn spinoff company, LambdaVision, runs the startup out of the university's Technology Incubator Program. PHOTO | HBJ FILE

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