CSU Ventures honors inventors, startups

FORT COLLINS – CSU Ventures recognized a number of inventors and promising companies from Colorado State University at an awards ceremony Wednesday night.

Multiple CSU inventors from the College of Engineering, College of Natural Sciences and College of Veterinary Medical and Biomedical Sciences received awards for patents issued last year and the previous year.

CSU Ventures, the university’s technology-transfer outfit, has helped inventors achieve 165 license agreements over the past five years. That represents a 184-percent increase from the 58 agreements that CSU Ventures fulfilled the previous five years.

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CSU Ventures also has helped generate more than $8 million in licensing income during the last five years, an 86-percent increase from the previous five years.

Wednesday’s event was well-attended, with CSU President Tony Frank delivering opening remarks on the importance of technology-transfer offices.

As the nation tries to emerge from the recession and into the future, the U.S economy will require research and development to succeed in a knowledge economy of the 21st century, Frank said.

“That R&D engine is, first and foremost, America’s research universities,” he said.

CSU Ventures also recognized companies started by CSU researchers such as Advanced MicroLabs and SurgiReal.

Advanced MicroLabs has developed technology to monitor low levels of contaminants in water used in electric power plants. Contaminants can cause corrosion, leading to failure of turbines that can cost $200 million to replace.

“This is a very real problem for the electric power generation industry,” CEO Chuck Henry said.

Using SurgiReal’s synthetic surgical training models, beginning and advanced medical and veterinarian students can learn basic surgical techniques without cutting into real tissue. The models mimic skin and organs and even contain vessels that simulate blood loss.

CSU Ventures also recognized Professor Chandrasekaran Venkatachalam with the Award for Innovative Excellence. Venkatachalam has received seven patents and has 25 patent applications pending, CSU Ventures President Todd Headley said.