PASADENA, Calif.â€"Today the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) recognizes the enactment of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act as a vital step in advancing our nation’s commitment to innovation and the transfer of university discoveries to the marketplace.
(Media-Newswire.com) - PASADENA, Calif.—Today the California Institute of Technology ( Caltech ) recognizes the enactment of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act as a vital step in advancing our nation’s commitment to innovation and the transfer of university discoveries to the marketplace. Caltech annually averages 120 to 140 patents granted and 180 invention disclosures from approximately 300 faculty members. In addition to having the highest disclosures per faculty in the nation, the Institute consistently ranks among the top three in the average number of patents granted to universities. Caltech also averages eight start-up companies per year.
In April, Caltech President Jean-Lou Chameau, along with more than 130 university and association leaders, signed a letter to then-Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke expressing Caltech's intention to develop and enhance campus-based activities relating to entrepreneurship, technology commercialization, and economic development. The letter indicated that universities would seek ways to expand and create new campus-based programs and efforts aimed at: ( 1 ) promoting student and faculty innovation and entrepreneurship; ( 2 ) supporting the Caltech's technology-transfer function; ( 3 ) facilitating university-industry collaboration; and ( 4 ) engaging universities in local and regional economic-development efforts.
As part of its ongoing commitment to encourage and facilitate campus-based entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology commercialization, and to foster local economic growth, Caltech has embarked on a number of programs through its Office of Technology Transfer, including:
The Caltech Innovation Initiative ( CI2 ): The CI2 is an internal grant program designed to provide research funds to high-risk but potentially high-reward projects that could produce disruptive technologies with practical applications in the marketplace.
Because such high-risk projects are often not funded by federal agencies, the program—founded by Caltech trustee James Rothenberg, chairman and principal executive officer of Capital Research and Management Company—is designed to give "big ideas" a chance to be proven. The program will result in additional startups, additional federal funding once risky concepts are validated, and additional collaborations with industry, including Dow and Johnson & Johnson.
In addition, Caltech is an active partner in a number of national and local initiatives, including:
Clean Tech LA ( CTLA ): Caltech is a founding board member of CTLA, a multi-institutional collaboration designed to establish Los Angeles as the global leader in research, commercialization, and deployment of clean technologies. The stated goals of CTLA are to ( 1 ) create jobs, by attracting and retaining clean technology firms that will create job opportunities at all levels; ( 2 ) stimulate demand by facilitating the continued growth of a large marketplace for clean technology goods and services; and ( 3 ) facilitate environmental solutions through the deployment of clean technologies to clean up the environment, create a better quality of life, and exceed our regulatory responsibilities. Participating in the collaboration are the City of Los Angeles and the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles; Caltech; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Southern California; the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech for NASA; the Central City Association; the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce; the Los Angeles Business Council; and the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.
Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator ( LACI ): Caltech has signed on as a satellite center for the LACI, a nonprofit entity launched by the Community Redevelopment Agency and the Department of Water and Power for the City of Los Angeles. LACI offers eligible start-ups flexible office space, coaching and mentoring, commercialization help, networking opportunities, and financing in order to accelerate "the development of a thriving clean technology cluster in Los Angeles." City of Pasadena Economic Development Strategic Plan ( EDSP ): Caltech has consulted with the business development staff of the city of Pasadena on a draft EDSP. Employers, city advisory committees, and representatives from local institutions and business districts offered productive ideas that were incorporated into the document, which provides an assessment of the existing conditions that drive the economy in Pasadena and is intended to help local stakeholders and decision makers implement strategies that will contribute to the city's future economic health.
The EDSP will be a reference document for the city's General Plan update, and includes strategic recommendations to enhance Pasadena's business climate, ensure the fiscal health of the city, and support economic growth in a manner consistent with the city's strengths and character.
The U.S. Manufacturing Competitiveness Initiative ( USMCI ) study: Caltech is an active participant in the USMCI study, initiated last year by the nonpartisan and nongovernmental Council on Competitiveness, which is composed of business CEOs, university presidents, and labor leaders working to ensure U.S. prosperity. The study is designed to formulate a realistic and comprehensive solutions "roadmap" toward a vibrant, diversified, and technologically advanced manufacturing value chain—one that results in American jobs, economic growth, and energy and national security. The roadmap will be delivered to the Administration and the Congress at a national summit convened by the end of 2011. The California Institute of Technology is a small, private university in Pasadena that conducts instruction and research in science and engineering, with a student body of about 900 undergraduates and 1,200 graduate students. Recognized for its outstanding faculty, including several Nobel laureates, and such renowned off-campus facilities as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the W. M. Keck Observatory, and the Palomar Observatory, Caltech is one of the world’s preeminent research centers.
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