OSU bids to turn ideas into cash

By Jeff Bell
Business First of Columbus
Updated: 8:00 p.m. ET June 26, 2005

A nonprofit corporation is being launched to develop commercial enterprises for research coming out of Ohio State University Medical Center.
UMC Partners will seek commercial funding for business ventures that would apply science and research from the medical center, said Columbus tech-sector veteran Jeffrey Wilkins, who is serving as UMC Partners' president and chief executive.

Royalties from those ventures, he said, would go to the university's research foundation as would some of the proceeds from the sale of startup ventures launched by UMC Partners.
UMC Partners will also work with Ohio State's Office of Technology Licensing, said Wilkins, best known as the Internet pioneer who in 1969 founded CompuServe in Columbus, one of the world's first computer online services.
"UMC Partners will be like any other independent organization that might come to the university to license intellectual property," he said. "We feel this will open a series of new opportunities for working with commercial partners."
Eye on medical science
UMC Partners joins the established efforts to find commercial outlets for research done at Ohio State.
Much of that work is done by OSU's Office of Technology Licensing.
But UMC Partners will specifically target commercialization opportunities for medical research.
Dr. Fred Sanfilippo, chief executive officer of OSU Medical Center, has been a big proponent of such efforts in the life sciences since his arrival at Ohio State in 2000.
UMC Partners already has a few commercialization projects in the works, Wilkins said, but he declined to provide details until they are further developed.
OSU President Karen Holbrook said UMC Partners should help foster the university's role as a catalyst for technology-based economic development and increase OSU's collaboration with the private sector.
"Biotechnology and the entire medical field are exploding with possibilities and opportunities," she said in prepared text. "(UMC Partners) allows us to be responsive to the market in a leadership role."
Big names aboard
Wilkins said he is impressed with the quality of the board of directors that will oversee UMC Partners.
The board includes several leading business figures in Central Ohio and some top OSU administrators, including Sanfilippo and OSU Health System CEO Pete Geier.
Chemical Abstracts Service President Robert Massie is serving as chairman of UMC Partners. Other directors include Battelle Memorial Institute CEO Carl Kohrt, Limited Brands Inc. Chief Operating Officer Leonard Schlesinger and Mark Collar, president of global pharmaceuticals for Procter & Gamble Co.
"The interesting thing is the mix of skills," Wilkins said. "I'm very pleased with what we were able to do there."
The 60-year-old Wilkins said his job at UMC Partners will extend his involvement with OSU Medical Center and mesh with his experience in developing commercial applications of new ideas.
In addition to launching CompuServe, he founded CD-ROM manufacturer Metatec International Inc. in 1985 and led the company until 2001, when it began a reorganization.
Wilkins got involved with OSU Medical Center two years ago, serving as a consultant on technology commercialization projects and partnerships. He also was the medical center's interim chief information officer for a year until agreeing in May to lead development of UMC Partners.
"This is a natural follow-on for me," Wilkins said of his UMC Partners duties.
© 2005 Business First of Columbus