chapter 25, University Research and the Optics Industry

In Part IV: The Universities from: Engineering a High-Tech Business: Entrepreneurial Experiences and Insights

Editor(s): José Miguel López-Higuera, Brian Culshaw

Author(s): Faramarz Farahi

Published: 21 March 2008

Chapter DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/3.786604.ch25

Chapter Page Count: 8 pages

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Front Matter

Part I: Reflections, Motives, and Money
1. Some Suggestions from an Economist to a New High-Tech Starter

2. The Academic Entrepreneur: An Oxymoron?

3. Money

4. Confessions of a Start-Up Junkie

5. Being an “Intrapreneur” and an Entrepreneur in the Optoelectronics Industry

Part II: Some Case Studies
6. Mirada Solutions: The Case Study of a University Spin-Off

7. Building a Company the Old-Fashioned Way: Meadowlark Optics, Inc.

8. Building a Lasting Optical Design and Manufacturing Company

9. The Life and Times of a High-Tech Entrepreneur

10. A Case from Russia: IPG Photonics

11. Wacko WYKO

12. The Ocean Optics Story in a Nutshell

13. Experiences Starting a Nano-Sized Company

14. The Story of Fiberonics

15. Founding a Fiber-Optic Component and Sensor Business

16. How to Start a Small High-Tech Business in Troutdale, Oregon

17. SMARTEC: Bringing Fiber-Optic Sensors into Concrete Applications

18. “An Earth Odyssey” or Fibersensing

19. The First Years of Crystal Fibre A/S from a University Perspective

20. Multiwave Photonics: Building a Fiber Optics Company in Portugal

Part III: Supporting the Entrepreneur
21. Developing High-Tech Companies in Spain and Portugal

22. Intellectual Property in High-Tech Entrepreneurship

23. Support for a Young Company

Part IV: The Universities
24. Strategic Support: The Case of the Technical University of Madrid

25. University Research and the Optics Industry

Back Matter

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Excerpt

The structure and management of the interaction between the academic community and the high-technology entrepreneur will continue to become increasingly important and will substantially enrich the societies and communities within which it is successfully implemented. The research universities have played a large role through their students and faculty in establishing start-up companies. In this chapter, an analysis is presented of the key factors for optimizing the transference results by means of the creation of new photonic companies.

25.1 Introduction

Throughout the world, and particularly in the United States, small businesses play a major role in economic growth. In developed countries, one significant area for small-business development is in science and technology. In this area, research universities have played a large role through their students and faculty in establishing start-up companies. Many examples support this assertion. Spinning off new ventures from research institutions has played a key role in the development of high-technology clusters in areas such as Silicon Valley and Boston. It is also believed that university research affects private-sector innovation. Little is understood about either the specific channels through which these effects occur or their impact among various industries. However, it is obvious that public research affects industrial R&D in a wide variety of manufacturing industries, and publications and conferences are the most important knowledge-flow channels for these effects in most industries.

Before academic research results can be commercialized, the technology or knowledge has to be transferred from the research organization to industrial/commercial entities; this process is called technology transfer. Any managed technology-transfer activity is likely to be both costly and peripheral to the main purpose of the university, which is to develop and disseminate knowledge. This activity also requires a different form of managerial structure and style than is inherent in the institution.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/3.786604.ch25

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