Colorado State University announced an initiative designed to help innovations in clean technology move quickly to commercial applications. The University has created a "Supercluster" alliance that groups academic researchers, economists and business experts from the University’s eight colleges to help bridge the gap between business and academia.
"We are streamlining the process so that scientists work hand-in-hand with industry experts to commercialize the technology more rapidly and businesses interested in licenses can more easily navigate the university," said Bill Farland, CSU’s vice president for Research.
"Colorado State’s Supercluster model is unique in its multidisciplinary structure, enabling groundbreaking research to move to market more quickly by mimicking the best business practices," Farland said.
The University’s Clean Energy Supercluster has created a business arm called Cenergy, to represent more than 100 faculty members who participate in developing alternative energy solutions and policies in the areas of biofuels, solar energy, wind power and clean-burning engines.
Cenergy will have a chief scientific officer–Professor Bryan Willson in mechanical engineering–overseeing research activities. A chief operating officer will focus on forging business alliances and developing new opportunities for the results of that research. The Supercluster’s technology transfer specialist will seek opportunities for patents, licenses and startups. The team also will seek private equity investors for new business opportunities.
Emerging technologies at CSU have already led to the creation of several successful startups, including Envirofit International, which commercializes sustainable technologies in the developing world; Solix Biofuels, which is producing biodiesel from algae; and AVA Solar Inc., which is producing solar panels at $1 per watt. More technologies are in the pipeline.
"Envirofit International is a perfect example of the kind of business that Cenergy will produce in the long run," said Willson.
"CSU has the academic and research prowess to solve some of the most difficult, challenging environmental problems on the planet through multidisciplinary solutions and cooperation–everyone from agricultural scientists to political scientists," said Willson, who is a co-founder of Envirofit and Solix Biofuels. "These are problems that affect billions of people around the globe–problems that aid agencies don’t have time or money to address."
"Our universities have a fundamental educational responsibility to prepare a skilled workforce for the anticipated demand for green jobs over the next several decades," CSU President Larry Edward Penley said. "In short, we in higher education need to get beyond changing out light bulbs in our campus buildings, and focus instead on what it will take to engineer a better light bulb – and to educate the knowledge leaders who will invent an eco-friendly replacement for the light bulb."
The University also has Superclusters dedicated to infectious disease and cancer research.
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