Inventing The Future

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How do the brainstorms of university professors and grad students get turned into rainstorms of cash in the business world? This special section explains how technology transfer is accomplished at the three L.A. institutions best known for their prowess in obtaining patents and licenses, and for creating companies to commercialize their innovations.

This section also spotlights some examples of the groundbreaking technologies that may change our world. One example is the SEM medical scanner. UCLA, USC and Caltech actually take somewhat different approaches to technology transfer.

At Caltech, the Office of Technology Transfer is only 16 years old. It was formed when the culture changed from “ivory tower, anti-business” to try to create companies like those starting up in Silicon Valley that spun off from Stanford and in Boston that spun off from MIT. At UCLA, the Office of Intellectual Property has picked up the pace: It produced more startups last year than it did in five years during the 1990s.

At USC, the Stevens Institute for Innovation is trying to develop mentorship programs and funding assistance in addition to simply helping with patents and licensing. This special section details their efforts and spotlights some examples of the groundbreaking technologies that may change the world to come.

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