Texas Tech University will partner with Arlington’s Center for Innovation, an organization that aims to market the technology in advanced research studies. The two organizations met in Arlington Aug. 30 and said details of their partnership would be finalized at a later date. The Center for Innovation (CFI) was established in 2001 by the Arlington Chamber of Commerce Foundation to serve as a catalyst for technology-led economic development.
“Creating partnerships and synergies with external organizations are vital to our success as a national leading research university,” said Texas Tech President M. Duane Nellis. This partnership, along with 18 others like it, will focus on the development of TechComm, a national and multiagency approach to effectively communicate lab results to the marketplace in order to commercialize advanced technology. TechComm represents nine federal agencies and has more than 300 labs dedicated to research.
According to Wes Jurey, president and CEO of the center, the new relationship will provide Texas Tech access to CFI’s research and technology partnerships, representing 334 federal labs, and network of research-oriented universities and industry partners. “As an intermediary for relevant licensing and invention technologies, CFI anticipates playing an important role in the commercialization of new technologies and other business opportunities in support of Texas Tech,” Jurey said. In the past, Texas Tech brought in more than $200 million in research and development and more than 80 new technologies annually to its partners.
The Center for Innovation operates 334 labs, spends $140 billion annually on research, and employs more than 100,000 federal researchers and scientists, with more than 40,000 patents available for license by business and industry for their use, manufacture or production.