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Other article:
Economic Growth Sparked by Federal Investment in University Research
May 24, 2010
Source: Community Partnership Update/June 2010
 A new report demonstrating the link between federally funded basic research and economic growth highlights four Emory startup companies among its 100 "successful stories." The report, "Sparking Economic Growth: How federally funded university research creates innovation, new companies and jobs," was released by the Science Coalition and traces the origins of 100 companies to breakthrough research conducted at a university and sponsored by a federal agency.
The Emory startup companies highlighted in the report include:
• GeoVax, Inc., studies vaccines for diseases caused by HIV and other infectious agents.
• Pharmasset, Inc., researches drugs to treat viral infections.
• Syntermed, Inc., researches diagnostic medical imaging software.
• Triangle Pharmaceuticals, researches drugs to treat life-threatening diseases, including HIV/AIDS, in areas of unmet medical need.
These Emory-related companies are highlighted alongside Google, Genetech, Cisco Systems and iRobot.
Collectively, the 100 companies highlighted employ well over 100,000 people and have annual revenues approaching $100 billion. The Sparking Economic Growth report illustrates the substantial economic benefits to the United States when companies are created as a result of discoveries in federally funded university laboratories.
"The benefit to patients from federally funded Emory research resulting in commercialized products is incredible in its scope," said Todd Sherer, Ph.D., Emory associate vice president for research and director of the Office of Technology Transfer. "More than 90 percent of HIV patients on life saving therapies in the United States and Europe, and thousands more around the world, take one or more drugs first developed at Emory through federally sponsored research."
 Emory's technology transfer program is one of the nation's leading programs for guiding technology developed in the laboratory through the patenting and licensing process to the marketplace and into the hands of consumers and patients. Since the 1990s, Emory has turned federal research funding into more than $775 million in licensing revenues from drugs, diagnostics, devices and consumer products. These funds have been returned to laboratories and scientists as a new source of funding for continued research.
Based on research discoveries originating in its own laboratories, Emory has launched 47 startup companies and has licensed 27 therapeutic products, medical devices and diagnostics already in the marketplace and 12 more currently in human clinical trials.
These success stories highlighted in the report are a small sample of the many companies that have sprung from the discoveries of federally funded, university-based research. The university-based research at the root of these companies addresses some of society's most pressing needs. It also provides employment for researchers, technicians and support personnel, and serves as a training ground for future generations of scientists, engineers, doctors, teachers and entrepreneurs.
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