Purdue announces record-breaking invention disclosures, startups, other strong commercialization activities for FY19

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – With 360 invention disclosures, Purdue University researchers experienced a record-breaking year in the number of innovations filed through the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization and reports another strong year for startup and commercialization activities as it continues to establish itself as an international leader for technology transfer and patents, officials announced Wednesday (July 10).

In the previous fiscal year of 2018, Purdue reported 302 disclosures.

Also for fiscal year 2019, which ended June 30, the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization and Purdue Foundry posted technology transfer activities including:

• 231 technologies licensed, compared with 215 in fiscal year 2018.
• 136 licensing and option agreements, compared with 126 in fiscal year 2018.

Purdue also generated 48 startups with 17 of those originating from Purdue-licensed intellectual property, besting last year’s record-breaking year by three when there were 45 startups with 25 of those originating from Purdue-licensed intellectual property in fiscal year 2018.

Since the beginning of fiscal year 2014 Purdue has generated more than 250 startups, more than $350 million in funding and investments and nearly 350 new jobs. The research concentrations reported in the disclosures include numerous sectors in sustainability, health, space and artificial intelligence.

"There is nothing of which we are more proud than the outstanding research and discovery of our faculty and students," Purdue President Mitch Daniels said. "But the ultimate measure of its value, especially for a land-grant university like ours, is its practical usefulness to our society. These latest commercialization records show Purdue living up fully to the land-grant ideal."

Purdue celebrates its 150th anniversary this year as Indiana’s land-grant university and strives to support learning, discovery and engagement through education, research and outreach. To that end, Purdue also is ranked 12th in the world among universities granted U.S. utility patents in 2018, matching its best finish in the annual rankings released last month by the National Academy of Inventors and the Intellectual Property Owners Association.

“Our core mission is to make a difference in the world through the commercialization of Purdue’s technologies. Our entire team works very hard to accomplish this goal through engagement, outreach, intellectual property protection and licensing,” said Brooke Beier, vice president of the Office of Technology Commercialization. “We are very proud of this record-breaking year of invention disclosures submitted by our outstanding faculty, students and staff. Most of these disclosures will become patented technologies that become licensed through established companies or startups and moved to the public where they can make a true difference in people’s lives.”  

In 2017, the Milken Institute ranked Purdue 12th in its list of best universities for technology transfer, ranking Purdue No. 1 in the Midwest and No. 1 nationally among public institutions without a medical school.

Resources available through the Purdue entrepreneurial ecosystem include the Purdue Foundry, Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization and the Anvil.

“Creating new companies requires a solid team effort, and we're fortunate to have a strong entrepreneurial community to support these teams,” said Scott Henderson, vice president and chief entrepreneurial officer of the Purdue Foundry. “What's most exciting about the past year is how our collective success has come from many different sources, including undergraduates, researchers and the Greater Lafayette community. We look forward to building on this momentum as we introduce new resources in the coming year."

Shreyas Sen, a Purdue assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, founded BDYWR LLC in fiscal year 2019 as he develops a method of using the human body as an internet that could be used to securely authenticate and communicate among Human-Computer Interaction devices.

"We showed for the first time a physical understanding of the security properties of human body communication to enable a covert body area network, so that no one can snoop important private information," Sen said. “Purdue’s strong entrepreneurial ecosystem has helped us to be well positioned to take our technology into the world.”

About Purdue Foundry

The Purdue Foundry is an entrepreneurship and commercialization accelerator in Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship whose professionals help Purdue innovators create startups. Managed by Purdue Research Foundation, the Purdue Foundry was co-named a top recipient at the 2016 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Designation and Awards Program by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities for its work in entrepreneurship. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org.

About Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization           

The Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university's academic activities through commercializing, licensing and protecting Purdue intellectual property. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2016 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Innovation from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. For more information on licensing a Purdue innovation, contact the Office of Technology Commercialization at otcip@prf.org. The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University.           

Writer: Chris Adam, 765-588-3341, cladam@prf.org 

Sources:

Mitch Daniels, president@purdue.edu 

Shreyas Sen, shreyas@purdue.edu

Brooke Beier, blbeier@prf.org