TATRC within the Army’s Medical Research and Materiel Command is taking steps to move research forward according to the article “TATRC: Translating Research into New Medical Products” published in the May 2012 issue of “Mercury”.
Ron Marchessault, Director of Technology Transfer and Commercialization for TATRC, is busy developing a comprehensive commercialization program for more than 1,800 research projects funded since 2000. So far, 2.3 percent have resulted in commercial products, generating $209 million in sales from a total federal investment of $74 million. TATRC manages these projects at universities, government laboratories, and high-tech start-up companies.
In one project, fifteen TATRC small business partners were selected in 2011 to have their new products analyzed by FirstLink, a DOD technology transfer partner. The analysis offered by FirstLink helps small high tech companies find more business opportunities.
Student teams from Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School in their Global MBA program in December 2011, presented commercialization plans for eight TATRC projects. Some of the projects included development of an e-learning system for surgical skills, a robotic arm, and mobile diabetes self-care system.
The students gained experience in applying business theory to assist high tech start-up companies and in turn, the researchers gained intellectual property research and in-depth marketing analyses without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Marchessault introduced TATRC partners to EquityNet, a metric-based program used to determine commercialization viability and today ten companies are participating in the program. The program includes developing a business plan analysis.
TATRC’s Tech Transfer program has teamed up with the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds (NASVF) to connect promising research to private investment sources. NASVF is carefully positioning TATRC funded businesses to interested investors.
Go to www.armymedicine.army.mil/news/mercury/12-05/mercury-May2012.pdf to view the article published in the publication “Mercury” courtesy of TATRC Public Affairs.
