Message From the Director, FY 2005
Fiscal Year 2005, which ended June 30, was another record breaking year for Georgia Tech (GT) research, new intellectual property generation, and technology commercialization. Total Grant/Contract awards hit a record $357 million versus $342 million in FY04, with research expenditures exceeding $420 million. These increases in research lead to a significant increase in Invention Disclosures (a record 324 in FY05 versus 277 in FY04, representing a 17% increase) turned in to OTL by our faculty and students. We filed 258 provisional patent applications (a new record) and 65 utility patent applications (also a new record). GT was awarded 43 patents (a record) and completed 59 license/option agreements. Nine new companies were started up with GT licensed technologies (now over 75 such companies to date; 34 of them started up in the past three years). Revenue hit $4.6 million for FY05, which is roughly double FY04 revenue.
The above statistics are truly the outcome of GT's high-caliber, dedicated faculty and students doing leading-edge research with a desire, working closely with OTL, to have their newly discovered technologies and inventions evaluated, protected, and commercialized. We in OTL appreciate all the cooperation, positive attitudes, excitement and responsiveness from the faculty and students we interact with on a daily basis. This definitely helps us serve them and our/their outside business collaborators more effectively.
OTL continues to not only handle a growing invention disclosure (ID) case load, but is also working to improve our processes to become more efficient. For example, over the past year we have been reviewing older ID's to determine if they still should be actively managed. If determined they have little or no commercialization value, they have been archived so our team can focus more on those of higher potential (even with this review process, we are actively handling over 1200 ID's with 6 to 7 new ones coming in each week). Over the summer, we also completed a comprehensive review of OTL's case management database to ensure accurate and up-to-date information from each ID. This work, tied in with the recently added capability to scan in all key documents associated with an ID, allows us to easily track and pull up key information from the desktop without searching through paper files. In addition, we have recently adjusted our processes/responsibilities to more effectively handle ID's from some larger GT Centers and Federal reporting requirements. All of these improvements add up to an increased capability to help manage and commercialize technology.
Over the summer a new group, Commercialization Services (CS), was established in the Economic Development-Technology Ventures organization. CS will include the functions of the VentureLab group (to assist faculty/students in formation of start-ups) but with expanded responsibilities to assist in the evaluation and marketing of GT technologies. The OTL team has already started working with the CS team, and looks forward to the support and services they will be able to provide to further drive our commercialization efforts.
Yes, FY05 was another very strong year for GT research as well as the development and commercialization of new, exciting technologies. Based on the high level of activity we have already seen in July and August, FY06 is off to a fast start. The OTL team is looking forward to working with you on the opportunities FY06 will bring!
