THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE RESEARCH CORPORATION

The University of Tennessee Research Corporation (UTRC) is a non-profit organization responsible for supporting the University's research efforts and for helping University faculty commercialize new technologies. In addition, UTRC accepts invention disclosures from private individuals interested in commercializing their ideas or inventions. A number of faculty throughout the University of Tennessee system have seen their inventions reach into the commercial marketplace after being patented, copyrighted, marketed, and licensed by UTRC.

The University of Tennessee Research Corporation was founded in 1935 when local Knoxville businessmen and University leaders realized that much of the research at the University resulted in technologies with potentially significant commercial and social value. Some of UTRC's earliest successes were realized when the research of one of UTRC's founders, Dr. Kenneth L. Hertel, led to the formation of Spinlab, a Knoxville-based company that for many years was a world leader in cotton fiber measuring devices. Although successes were sporadic through much of its first 50 years, since 1982 UTRC has emerged as one of only several self-supporting university-related technology transfer organizations in the country.

Today many of the research programs at the University of Tennessee are at the cutting edge of scientific understanding and UT researchers are making significant contributions to the global body of knowledge. In almost every scientific field imaginable, University of Tennessee researchers are making exciting new discoveries, many of which have potentially significant commercial value. Following are several examples of successful technology transfer arrangements UTRC has helped broker.

Textiles: Researchers at UT's Textile And Nonwoven Development Center (TANDEC) developed a method to impart a permanent electrostatic charge to nonwoven fabrics. The technology is particularly important for use in various filters, where the filtration efficiency is increased by as much as 90% in some cases. Patented and licensed on a worldwide basis to some of the largest textile manufacturers, the technology has also benefited the local economy; a local manufacturer holds an equipment manufacturing license and the faculty inventors have formed an equipment leasing company to provide equipment to smaller foreign manufacturers.

Medical diagnostics: Researchers at The University of Tennessee, Memphis developed a pioneering method for attaching diagnostic antibodies to latex beads to provide quick and accurate tests for chicken pox, German measles, cytomegalovirus, and pseudorabies. All of these diseases present potentially serious health issues, but can be treated, or effectively managed, if detected early in the infectious cycle.

Agriculture: A professor of ornamental horticulture at UT's Institute of Agriculture performed radiation experiments on several varieties of forsythia, a common ornamental shrub. Over a period of nearly thirty years he cross-bred the mutants to develop six new forsythia varieties, all of which have unique properties that make them attractive to landscape architects. Forsythia is particularly popular in Europe and UTRC has licensed all six varieties to a horticultural firm in France which is making them available to the European markets.

Manufacturing: A team of researchers in the Electrical Engineering Department at UT, Knoxville developed a method for producing a uniform glow discharge plasma at atmospheric pressure, thus eliminating the need for expensive and unwieldy vacuum chambers, which were previously required to produce such plasmas. Glow discharge plasmas can be used to effectively remove contaminants from various surfaces and to make synthetic fabrics and films wettable. With the introduction of the one atmosphere uniform glow discharge plasma, the field of plasma processing has broadened considerably and many industrial processes previously performed in a batch mode can now be performed in-line. An early application of the technology has been in the manufacture of microelectronic components.

In addition to technology commercialization, UTRC works diligently to garner industrial support for the University's research programs. Many of the industrial contacts UTRC makes in the course of its licensing activities lead to follow-on funded research projects. Conversely, many research projects funded by industrial sponsors can result in license agreements between the sponsor and UTRC when new technologies are developed during the course of the research project.

UTRC is governed by a Board of Directors which includes representatives of every UT campus, university-wide administration, and representatives of business and government. This has served to make UTRC more aware of the interests of its university and business environments.

UTRC's status as an independent, non-profit corporation gives it a degree of flexibility not enjoyed by the University. As a result, UTRC owns and operates a small research park at the University’s Space Institute (UTSI) in Tullahoma, Tennessee. The research park provides office and laboratory space for companies or individuals interested in working with researchers or research programs at UTSI, or in having access to the advanced facilities there. In a number of other small but significant ways UTRC promotes the interests of the University's faculty and research capabilities.

The University of Tennessee Research Corporation is an active and vital force in transferring University technologies into the commercial sector. Both the quantity and the quality of new technologies that flow from University laboratories each year attests to the vitality of the University's research programs and underscores the importance of UTRC's role in making these technologies available to industry: for the ultimate benefit of the general public.

Over the past several years, UTRC has grown in many respects. For example, in 1994, UTRC's revenue from commercialization activities was the highest in its 60-year history.

At the present time, UTRC's staff consists of Ann Roberson, President; Chris McKinney, Vice President for Marketing; Rhonda Manley, Vice President for Operations; Bob Palmer, Director of Technology Commercialization (UT-Memphis); Jeanie Snider, Senior Administrative Services Assistant; Mary Ann Russell, General Counsel; Ronald Reel, Bookeeper; and Arlene Garrison, Licensing Executive.