David Day can perhaps be described as a groomer of good ideas. From a modest third-floor office inside Walker Hall at the University of Florida, he may hear a pitch from a professor, and then decide if it's time for the school to take a swing.

"The lifeblood of a university is its faculty," said Day, director of UF's Office of Technology Licensing. "We get $330 million of external funding here every year for research. That kind of money produces inventions, and it's our responsibility to get those inventions out to the public."

The tech licensing office has been at UF for about 15 years, but is in the midst of its busiest -- and perhaps most lucrative -- stretch of operations. Day has only been in the top post for a few months, but he came to Gainesville with a pedigree in "technology transfer," or the introduction of university-based patents to the private sector.

For the past seven years in a similar position at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Day helped to commercialize an average of seven to 10 companies annually that were born at the school. Those successes include companies that are currently developing influenza therapy, brain cancer treatment, computer software imaging and other products.

In 2000 alone, UAB's spin-off companies received $60 million in private investments, and Day hopes to duplicate that success at UF.

"In order for this area to grow a strong, technology-based economy, we must play a pivotal role," Day said. "(Technology transfer) didn't even exist until the mid-1980s, but since then, $30 billion in product sales have been spun off of university-based technologies in the U.S."

The process
So what makes a good idea great? The journey begins at the tech licensing office, where UF faculty, primarily professors, will submit a completed "invention disclosure form" and meet with a licensing officer.

From there, the office conducts a "patentability and marketability" study of the particular technology. There are several licensing teams that deal with specific inventions, including those in life sciences, engineering/physical sciences, agriculture and pharma- ceuticals.

The tech licensing office will then decide to "waive" the idea, and allow the faculty member to pursue the project on his or her own, or "exert" the university's interest. In the latter scenario, UF officials will obtain a patent for the technology and then seek out licensing partners who will invest further in the product.

When a technology is licensed, the new company's future revenues are distributed in varying proportions to the inventor of the technology, the UF department and college where the idea originated and to the university's research and graduate programs.

"This office will never be the prime earner of revenue for the university," Day said, "but it can be a significant source of income. The money that comes in from licensing agreements is turned right around and re-invested in research and development at the university."

The amount of invention disclosures received at the tech licensing office has increased steadily since 1993-94, when 75 were submitted, to 200 disclosures in fiscal 2000-01.

Some of the businesses that UF's entrepreneurs have taken to the private sector are truly starting to pay dividends. In fiscal 2000, the tech licensing office pulled in $27 million in royalties from UF-related businesses -- good for eighth-highest in the country among large universities, said Jane Muir, operations manager at the licensing office.

Many of those firms have passed through the walls of the Sid Martin Biotechnology Development Institute in Alachua, which was developed by UF and opened in 1996. The institute houses start-up biotech companies.

This year, UF collaborated with the city and county to open the Gainesville Technology Enterprise Center, also an incubator-style facility that will be home to fledgling technology-based businesses.

The Gainesville building's first start-up company, MarCon Global Data Solutions, moved there in May and is a product of two UF biostatistics professors.

"I very strongly believe this is the future of the university," said Ronald Marks, a co-founder of MarCon. "The university will not succeed on state dollars alone. It's what UF can do for itself through things like technology transfer and the licensing office."

Launching a product
Marks is splitting his time these days as a UF professor and a technology entrepreneur. After teaching classes in the morning, he dons his businessman's cap in the afternoon and goes to MarCon, which he founded with Mike Conlon.

About five years ago, when mainstream use of the Internet began to expand, Marks and Conlon sought ways to enhance clinical research by using the World Wide Web. They devised an online system that maintains data on clinical subjects and trials, and they plan to market the service to medical companies and pharmaceutical firms, which spend $20 billion annually on research.

"For example, this product can tell you instantly about the enrollments for clinical trials on various drugs," Marks said. "Drug companies have to conduct extensive trials before getting FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval. It's a complex and cumbersome process that involves a lot of paperwork, and we've found a way to centralize and coordinate that research online. It makes the process more efficient and accurate."

In a different twist on the university's tech transfer process, UF actually licensed MarCon's technology back to the company, leaving it up to Marks and Conlon to get the product commercialized. The university will still receive a percentage of the company's royalties, since Marks and Conlon are maintaining their jobs as professors.

MarCon is sharing space at the Gainesville Technology Enterprise Center with the building's anchor tenant, Cenetec -- a "technology accelerator" firm that provides tech companies with consulting on management, marketing, financing and other aspects of daily operations.

Rather than charging fees for its services, Cenetec takes a percentage of equity ownership in the company. MarCon has such an arrangement with Cenetec, and within the next two weeks, an announcement is expected on the arrival of a second, health care-related tech firm to the incubator building.

The unidentified company is also a product of UF's technology licensing office.

The convergence of the incubator facility, the current spate of start-ups out of UF and the expansion of the university's technology licensing office is no accident. UF representatives worked closely with city and county officials to bring the $1.8 million incubator building to Gainesville, and the addition of Cenetec addressed what Day views as a necessity for the region's technology growth -- sound management skills in the local labor force.

"For everywhere but the East and West Coast, management is what's needed," Day said. "That's why what Cenetec is doing is so important for these firms. They need help on growing their companies, raising capital and doing other things. We could probably use two or three more Cenetecs in Gainesville."

Todd Chase, Cenetec's director of operations in Gainesville, said his company "is extremely excited" about everything it has seen from Day since he arrived earlier this year.

"He came here with all the right credentials," Chase said. "I think David's job will be evolutionary. By year's end, you'll see a greater connection between the university and its staff, and I think you'll see more people wanting to pursue opportunities through his office."

Praise for the office
UF's tech licensing office is earning praise, Muir said, for its creation last December of the UF Commercialization Council.

The council is a six-member panel with representatives from the Sid Martin facility, the tech licensing office, the UF Foundation and other university-related departments, and it has hosted forums and round-table discussions for budding entrepreneurs.

"We're also putting together mentoring programs, and we will continue with the entrepreneurs' forums in the coming months," Muir said.

This week, the council will sponsor a group of "management leaders" from Jacksonville for a local tour of the Sid Martin institute, the Gainesville technology incubator and parts of UF's campus.

The goal, Day said, is to draw more skilled managers to Gainesville to guide the paths of UF's business-related ventures.

"If you look at any metro area with a healthy economy, you have a strong research university at its heart," Day said. "What we need most right now is management skills and seed funding that will get these companies off the ground."

Joe Coombs can be reached at 338-3102 or joe.coombs@gainesvillesun.com.

See August 5, 2001, issue of Gainesville Sun for original article.