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University of Florida is One of the Best Schools For Tech Spinoffs
By Rob | May 16, 2007
A football title, a basketball title, and now University of Florida is holding it’s own against MIT and Caltech when it comes to spinning off startups. It’s enough to make you wonder what the hell is in the water in Gainesville.
The rise is the result of a change in strategy, which boils down to treating intellectual property like merchandise and then marketing these products to targeted customers. In a break from conventional wisdom, the university also shuns its own inventors when it comes to running startups, relying instead on hired guns who have proved they can make a go of business. “Our scientists are very good at science, and they’re at a university because they enjoy research,” notes David L. Day, director of the university’s Office of Technology Licensing. “But I wouldn’t go to my barber for an eye exam. What works best is if they stay in the lab and I go and find a been-there-done-that, made-money-for-investors management team.”
According to this list, most of the startups are in biotech.
Sunshine, warm weather, and tech startups. Goodbye Silicon Valley and hello Silicon Swamp. Will Gainesville be the next hotbed of tech startups?
Topics: SouthEast |
