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Gatorade fights thirst. Taxol battles cancer. Sentricon deters termites. And Trusopt eases the effects of glaucoma.
What could such different and successful products possibly have in common? All four were derived from research done at some of Florida's major universities.
Gatorade, now manufactured by PepsiCo, was developed to help University of Florida athletes avoid heat exhaustion on hot days. Taxol, a cutting-edge drug first developed from the yew tree and effective in treating ovarian cancer, was synthesized in the labs at Florida State University and now is sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb.
And the Sentricon termite baiting system, now marketed by Dow AgroSciences, and the drug Trusopt, sold by Merck, have become respected products from research originating at the University of Florida.
Thanks to their commercial success - and in some cases their life- and property-saving value - they help generate millions of dollars in royalties to the universities and researchers. They also demonstrate the profit potential of university research smart and lucky enough to navigate the winding road of "technology transfer" and find the people with the vision, capital and savvy to produce a viable business product.
Next month in St. Petersburg, an unusual meeting will be held to shed light on how the most promising Florida university research in information technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology might best find its way to commercial markets. More than 300 people from 13 Florida universities, venture capital firms, and entrepreneurial businesses are expected to gather at the first statewide Florida Tech Transfer Conference on May 17 and 18 at the Hilton in St. Petersburg.
Better late than never. Even the Florida Chamber of Commerce's New Cornerstone report, which looks to the coming decade of the state's economy, calls for improving the convoluted process of commercializing Florida university research.
The May event is a joint effort of the state-backed Florida Research Consortium, a 3-year-old group created to encourage commercialization of university research, and the Tampa Bay Technology Forum.
If it all sounds relatively simple to pick the best research and transform it to commercial success, guess again. University researchers, bless their hearts and IQs, are often in a world of their own. Investors willing to back early, iffy research are hard to find - especially in Florida. So are the business men and women who can recognize a product in a research lab and package it for the market.
All of that needs to change, says Tampa Bay Tech Forum president George Gordon.
Gordon, who also runs a Tampa company called Enporion, says the best way to build a healthy technology environment in this region is to establish better ties with several distinct groups.
"We need to create channels of communication between business entrepreneurs and providers of capital, government and economic developers, and research institutions and universities," he said.
Translation? Get the lab brainiacs and business folks talking to each other.
The idea of putting Florida's major universities and business community together was inspired by the similar efforts of California's Larta Institute, a nonprofit firm that links university research with business.
"Our goal is to put everyone under one roof and showcase the hottest new stuff in the universities," says Tampa Bay Tech Forum executive director Michelle Bauer. "Everybody wants the next biggest thing, and this meeting will essentially be one-stop shopping."
At the University of Florida, Gatorade is about to celebrate its 37th birthday. The inventors of the sports drink had to file suit in 1970 to settle various issues about the formula and profits. But the university, which receives 20 percent of royalties paid to the trust, has collected close to $100-million since 1972.
By far, the blockbuster of tech transfer in Florida is the cancer drug Taxol. FSU's John Fraser, director of technology transfer, says Taxol - licensed to Bristol-Myers Squibb - is the "No. 1 moneymaker" of all FSU research to be commercialized. Just since the mid 1990s, Taxol has delivered more than $300-million in royalties to the university.
With the proceeds of Taxol, Florida recently ranked fourth in university royalties and license income per worker and 11th for the number of university spinoffs per dollar of R&D spending, according to the New Cornerstone report. Without Taxol dollars, Florida's rank would drop "significantly," the report adds. FSU's license for Taxol is good until 2011.
The technology transfer scene can trace its roots to the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980. The federal law enabled universities to be compensated for the inventions created in their research labs with federal money.
Streamlining the lab-to-market process in this state takes on additional urgency with the arrival in Florida of the Scripps Research Institute. Florida is counting on its mega-investment in Scripps to generate a steady flow of business spinoffs in the life sciences and biotech industries.
The Tampa Bay economy better have its hand in the Scripps spinoff game. Just as it should grasp this region's tech transfer opportunities from biotech-focused research at the University of South Florida and Tampa's Moffitt Cancer Center.
This state's economy needs next month's meeting in St. Petersburg to be a solid start and the first of many annual tech transfer gatherings. Information about the meeting can be found online at http://www.tbtf.org.)
If Florida can't get its tech transfer act in gear, then the best of the state's university research will go elsewhere.
- Robert Trigaux can be reached at trigaux@sptimes.com or 727 893-8405.