Division of Research & Economic Development
OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER Fiscal Year 2021 Annual Report
YEAR IN REVIEW
A MESSAGE FROM OUR DIRECTOR I am pleased to report that FY 2021 was another successful year for the Office of Technology Transfer. Despite the pivot COVID-19 caused us to take as a nation and institution, resulting in teleworking, virtual events and navigating unfamiliar territory, we were still able to have another record breaking year. As we embarked on the first year of Phase II: Growth pillar of our Strategic goals, we have indeed continued to grow at a moderate rate. We achieved records in new IP Disclosures (innovations), New U.S. Patent Applications, Issued U.S. Patents, Start-up Companies (albeit a record tie), and Tech Transfer Agreements - continuing an upward trend from FY2020. In FY 2021, MSU’s rate of IP Disclosures set another performance metric record, with one new innovation being received every 12 days! OTT’s proactive in-reach programs, led by our Innovation Works (I-Works) Initiative, has continued to make a difference throughout the university, with 20 Awards to faculty/staff across 13 departments and seven Schools, Colleges, and Divisions. In FY 2021, OTT published the second issue of its Innovation Works Newsletter; and recognized the 2020 Innovation of the Year awardees, virtually, continuing its tradition of recognizing and rewarding innovation at Morgan. OTT spearheaded a successful D-RED/MSU virtual STEM forum in partnership with the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. The OTT Team continues to make strides towards implementing Phase II of its Strategic Plan over the next two years. The OTT Team will strive to maintain the high level of Innovation Outputs: IP Disclosures and New U.S. Patent Applications. We project our Innovation Outcomes: Tech Transfer Agreements, Issued U.S. Patents, and Start-up Companies will significantly rise as the increasing number of Morgan innovations mature, and move through the tech transfer pipeline. In addition, OTT has been actively engaged in Morgan’s Strategic Goal to achieve Carnegie Doctoral Research University R1 Classification by FY 2030. The progress made by the University in the technology transfer arena would not be possible without the strong support of Morgan’s leadership, university-wide engagement at the department level, experienced OTT staff, and of course, our many innovators. Continued progress in Morgan’s innovation ecosystem will benefit the City and State and lend gravitas to Morgan’s designation as "Maryland’s Preeminent Public Urban Research University." Wayne Swann, Director of Technology Transfer
INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER TRENDS *OTT Strategic Plan (0.25 FTE) | **New MD Law to Enhance OTT (0.5 FTE) | ***Full Funding Commenced
New Intellectual Property Disclosures FY 2015-2021 Output Metric Data
New U.S. Patent Applications FY 2015-2021 Output Metric Data
U.S. Patents Issued FY 2015-2021 Output Metric Data
License Agreements & Options FY 2015-2021 Output Metric Data
VISION An urban university where: faculty and staff are recognized and rewarded for innovation, are well informed and actively engaged; a spectrum of new technologies are transferred to existing and new businesses to benefit the public; and the University's contributions to economic development and quality of life have a positive, measured and documented impact.
MISSION Facilitate the transfer of university technology and innovation to business and industry, foster local economic development and provide benefit to the public. Earl S. Richardson Library, Home of the Office of Technology Transfer
The Economic and Social Impact of Morgan State University An update to the 2018 economic and social impact study of the university, revealed that Morgan is a valuable economic engine, generating over $1.1 billion in financial impact to the state of Maryland with over $600 million in Baltimore City.
GOALS
VISION MISSION GOALS SPECIFIC TASKS OTT tasks are reviewed and updated annually to guide the office through the fulfillment of the strategic plan.
In the Office of Technology Transfer's (OTT) strategic plan, we established four major goals as cornerstones to support the office's mission statement, to achieve our vision. The goals are: In Reach: Campus Innovation Programs Technology Licensing: Technology Push and Market Pull Economic Development: Benefit to the Community, Region, and State Best Practices: Management of University Intellectual Property
FISCAL YEAR 2021 INNOVATION METRICS The table below provides the FY 2021 end of year Morgan numerical data and updated comparative performance metrics per $10 million of university research expenditures based on the most recent Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) statistics. Morgan continues to surpass U.S. research universities when indexed to research and development expenditures. ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY MANAGERS (AUTM) METRICS FOR U.S. RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES - CALCULATED PER R&D EXPEDITURES
(1) FY 2021 Goals. Calculations based on $17,200,000 in Morgan R&D Expenditures in FY 2020. Metrics per R&D expenditures rounded to 2 significant figures. (2) Averages of updated 2019 AUTM data: 154 US Research Universities. Calculated/rounded to 2 significant figures. US averages show little change year-to-year. (3) Average Data of AUTM 2019 Statistics for JHU, JHU/APL, and USM - Rounded to 2 significant figures. (4) Comparison Factor in achieving FY 2021 Metric Goals. Rounded to whole number
Research dollars at work OTT facilitated Research & Development Funding Awards of $600,000 in FY 2021, with a 4-year total of over $3 million.
INNOVATIONS AT MORGAN
ACTIVE IP DISCLOSURES BY MAJOR CATEGORY
In FY 2021, the Office of Technology Transfer received a record number of 30 Intellectual property disclosures from 6 schools and colleges and 12 departments throughout campus. At the close of FY 2021, Morgan had over 120 active intellectual property disclosures. Morgan innovations are generally categorized in the areas of physical, life, and information sciences and are split almost evenly among the three categories.
LIFE SCIENCE
PHYSICAL SCIENCE
28%
32%
INFORMATION SCIENCE 40%
INNOVATION OF THE YEAR AWARDS Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Office of Technology Transfer did not host their annual Innovation of the Year Awards. The 2020 Awardees were announced via the OTT website, in continuing the tradition of celebrating, recognizing and rewarding the innovation taking place on Morgan's campus.
2020 Innovation Award Recipients
Intellectual Property Awardees
Morgan Community Innovation Awardees
Life Science Retrieval-Based Decision Support System to Enable the Automated Diagnosis of Multiple Skin Cancer Types from Dermospopic Images Dr. Md Mahmudur Rahman
Student Innovator of the Year Tasmeer Alam School of Engineering, Doctaral Candidate Instructional Innovator of the Year Natasha Otto College of Liberal Arts, Psychology Department
Physical Science Nanoscale Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy (SECM) Electrode Dr. Birol Ozturk, Alperen Guver, Peker Milas Information Science Multi-Layer Hidden Markov Model Based Intrusion Detection System Dr. Richard Dean, Dr. Farzad Moazzami,Wondimu K. Zegeye Dr. Lawrence Brown, Dr. Ian Lindong
Staff Innovator of the Year - TIE Sharon Oliver-Whitehurst Office of the Provost Team Award Lawrence Manning & Steven Law Office of Development, Office of Institutional Advancement
U.S. Patent Awardees Patent #10,688,541: Portable Shellfish Basket Washer Donghee Kang, Ted Cooney
Patent #10,673,469: Multi-based Multi-Mode Software Defined Radio Willie Thompson, Samuel Berhanu, Jan-Paul Alleyne
Patent #10,626,363: Engineered Cyanobacteria with enhanced salt tolerance Viji Sitther, Benham Tabatabai
Innovation at Morgan In fiscal year 2021, OTT received a new innovation every 12 days. Morgan has now reached a total of 139 IPDs submissions from faculty, students, and staff from throughout the university.
INCREASING INNOVATION THROUGH UNIVERSITY IN-REACH PROGRAMS Through OTT’s strategic In-Reach Programs, the office engages individuals, departments and colleges/schools to: identify and document university innovations; provide informational presentations to departments/units; and assist with the development of technology transfer plans for campus units. In FY 2021, the Office of Technology Transfer facilitated Morgan's co-hosting of a STEM Forum with the National Academy of Sciences. The virtual town hall meeting entitled, Supporting STEM at MSU and other HBCUs had over 400 registrants representing 200 U.S. Institutions. Members of Morgan faculty and staff including President David Wilson, and former Provost Lesia Crumpton-Young were panelists, along with representatives from the Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration and National Institute of Standards and Technology. In addition, OTT published the Spring/Summer issue of the Innovation Works newsletter. The newsletter featured stories on Dr. Ming Liu of the PEARL and long time innovator at Morgan, Dr. Seong Lee. Their stories highlight the drivers that lead them down the path of innovation and the current status of their various projects. The office continued to assist campus units in the development of tech transfer plans to further innovation taking place on campus and in the greater Baltimore area. As a result of one of these efforts, the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) awarded the 2020 CUTC Technology Transfer Leadership Award to Morgan's National Transportation Center.
INNOVATION WORKS (I-WORKS) INITIATIVE Translating Innovation into jobs
Innovation Works, the Office of Technology Transfer’s signature initiative, consists of four innovation, technology transfer, and economic development programs for university faculty, staff, students and the Morgan community. The overarching goal is translating innovation into local economic development opportunities and jobs. Throughout the year, OTT has partnered with a number of students, faculty, staff and community members to manifest projects and ideas, facilitate start-up businesses, and strengthen relationships within the Morgan community. The awarding of I-GAP grants to MSU innovators helps to facilitate transitioning results of laboratory research to the public, to generate societal value through new and improved products and services. The grants were awarded to faculty and staff members representing a diverse group of University departments and divisions looking to advance the University and greater Baltimore community.
20
I-Works Initiative Awards
7
13
Departments
A FEW FY 2021 I-GAP INNOVATION AWARDS
Schools & Colleges Awarded
Corneal Topographic Diagnostics Indices Shiva Mehravaran ASCEND Center for Biomedical Research Background: The invention compares eye data (difference between corresponding points on the cornea) to detect ectasia at its early stages (before it has clinical signs or symptoms) so that patients can receive proper treatment in a timely manner and do not undergo any surgical procedures (e.g. LASIK and PRK) which can worsen their condition.
I-WORKS INITIATIVE PROGRAMS
Automated Wheelchair & Adapted Automated Vehicle System Mansoureh Jeihani College of Engineering Background: An Automated Wheelchair (AW) system will enable people with multiple types of disabilities to make short-distance trips independently and allow for embarking and de-embarking from a van.
seasoned entrepreneurs, in-search-of innovations
Heat Tolerant Soft Clam Shells Brittany Wolfe-Bryant Patuxent Environmental & Aquatic Research Laboratory (PEARL) Background: The innovation is a first generation of selected softshell clams derived from Maryland (MD) local stock, which is expected to be more tolerant to MD local summer water temperatures. The soft-shell breeding protocol will be developed and optimized towards large-scale production. Development of a Noncognitive Instrument Carrol Perrino, Avis Jackson, Taj Rollins, Cheryl Rollins, Janine Jackson Center for Predictive Analytics Background: The CPA has been working on the development of a noncognitive instrument for entering freshmen at an HBCU measuring those abilities shown to be predictive of success in college.
I-GAP • The Innovation Grant Assistance Program provides early stage grants (e.g. pre-TEDCO MII) to MSU inventors to further develop MSU innovations. I-Works ISO • Reaches out to both new and for new technology-based businesses. The program also works to connect and match Morgan students, graduating college seniors and advanced degree candidates with new and early stage companies in search of interns and employees. I-Works Community • Engages the Morgan Community Mile, the PEARL Aquaculture community and other regional and business communities to promote and enhance innovation. I-Start • Being developed for Pre-Incubator and Start-Up spaces for entrepreneurs and start-up companies, as well as students and I-Start Centers.
Morgan State University Division of Research & Economic Development Office of Technology Transfer Earl S. Richardson Library, Suite 207 443.885.1003 www.morgan.edu/technologytransfer