New research park should maximize UND’s return on intellectual property

By Juan Miguel Pedraza
While University of North Dakota scientists probe deep into the mysteries of biotech, nanotech, and other ultratech fields, Dr. Peter Alfonso and Dr. Jim Petell probe for practical and legally protectable ways to turn UND research discoveries into gold for both the researchers and the institution.

Among their most potentially lucrative ideas is a Center of Excellence for Life Sciences and Advanced Technologies (COELSAT) — already endorsed by North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven’s Centers of Excellence program — that would house UND research ventures partnered with outside companies and corporations looking to link their financial muscle with the University’s intellectual capital.  However you cut it, though, there’s more to this 50,000-square-foot project than bricks, and mortar.

“This is a tough, competitive business,” said Petell, UND director of technology transfer and commercialization.  A former corporate research leader who has numerous patents to his credit, Petell is also a registered patent agent for the University.  That means he is registered to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to write and file, and prosecute patent applications for third parties.  Petell’s boss, Alfonso, UND vice president for research, agrees that turning scientific innovations into income is a tall order.  That’s one key reason that he created Petell’s position.

This path to profit is built on two strategic initiatives under Alfonso’s tutelage:  the recently formed University of North Dakota Research Foundation and the Research Enterprise and Commercialization (REAC) park.

The UND Research Foundation, which will manage the REAC park, aims to help with the commercialization of the intellectual property created across all of the colleges and schools of the University, Alfonso explains.  The Foundation will also help engage the community and state to form new joint partnerships and businesses that will lead to economic growth within the community and the state of North Dakota.  In a nutshell, he said, the Foundation was established “to support UND’s research enterprise.”

The proposed research park itself is an extension of the premise behind the research foundation, given the ramped-up increase and diversity of UND intellectual property and emerging corporate partnerships and joint ventures.  And though he agrees that “not all innovations are patentable or have sufficient value,” Petell knows from the corporate experience that “without a patent, without that protected intellectual property, you’ve got nothing, zip — you don’t have a business ... That’s why companies like IBM file patents, lots of them.  Otherwise, they’d spend billions discovering and developing a marketable product, a molecule, a chemical, only to lose it to some copycat who could make it cheaper if it wasn’t protected by patent,” Petell emphasized.

“That’s why we have IP (intellectual property) law, the federal patent office, and lawyers and places like this office that look out for that IP turf,” he continued.
The park will be located on a 19.5-acre site at 42nd Street and Demers Avenue, right next to the Hilton Garden Inn, on the west end of the campus.

“Three things about that location make it valuable for our research park,” Petell said.  “First, it’s close to the central campus; second, it complements the Center for Innovation and the Skalicky Tech Incubator on the same site; and third, it shows high tech being developed into a park-like setting complete with the hotel for business partners (with high-tech, multipurpose facilities nearby).”
The driving force of the research park, Alfonso and Petell emphasize, is the IP.

“We asked ourselves how to take into the marketplace intellectual property developed at the University or in joint research relationships with corporate partners, and, most importantly, keep it in North Dakota,” Petell said.  “This type of facility would be unique in this area — there isn’t one now — and would facilitate the commercialization of IP.

“Further,” he continued, “by forming companies based in North Dakota, it provides tremendous career opportunities for students to remain in North Dakota in high-paying, high-tech jobs, rather than going out of state.”

The plan for COELSAT is to begin occupancy in October 2007.  Currently, six companies representing four life sciences and advanced technologies clusters are designing research and office space to meet their needs.  Most of the companies are coming from out of state to work with UND faculty on research projects or develop relationships for student intern programs.  One of the life sciences companies, Avianax, was jointly formed with the UND Research Foundation earlier this year.

The research park, Petell observed, multiplies opportunities: “You get economic development for both Grand Forks and UND, including investment in research and in the new companies, and new professional jobs to go with them.”