UF now ranks fourth nationally among the nation’s leaders in startup launches.
Helping to create 15 startups last year, the university was ranked fourth behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California and University of Texas systems, according to a report from the Association of University Technology Managers.
“UF has almost $700 million dedicated to research. With every $2 million to $2.5 million of research, there is a new discovery,” said Jane Muir, associate director of the UF Office of Technology Licensing.
The office, which was ranked 11th in the U.S. for number of licenses and options granted, works to help UF students and alumni mold ideas into products that can be patented, licensed and made available to the public, according to a news release.
“The goal of research is to come up with the discoveries, but those discoveries don’t do any good unless they end up in the marketplace,” Muir said.
Products born out of the Office of Technology Licensing include medicine developed to treat patients with brain injuries, gene therapy for blind dogs, a medical records mobile app and an air-pad cooling system for Gator football players to use during games.
“The technologies are across the board,” Muir said. “A lot of these products are life-changing.”
In the last 12 years, it has launched nearly 140 biomedical and technology startups.
One startup is AxoGen Inc., a company founded in Gainesville in 2002 dedicated to providing surgical solutions to patients with peripheral nerve injuries.
Peripheral nerves carry signals to the brain and allow people to feel sensations and move muscles. They can be damaged in many ways, said Jill F. Sciaparelli, senior vice president of business strategy and marketing at AxoGen.
AxoGen develops products that repair and protect peripheral nerves. The company has three different brands available in the United States and seven other countries.
“AxoGen has developed great momentum and we hope to continue that moving forward,” said Sciaparelli.
AxoGen’s offices are at UF’s Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator, which is host to more than two dozen other startups.
A version of this story ran on page 1 on 9/20/2013 under the headline "UF ranks fourth in startup launches"
