ACCELERATING IMPACT 2018 FISCAL YEAR IN REVIEW
STUDENT ENTREPRENEURSHIP 2018 RANDALL FAMILY BIG IDEA COMPETITION
300+ STUDENTS 102 TEAMS 1,566
2018 STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN INNOVATION INSTITUTE PROGRAMMING
BIG IDEA CENTER
Student entrepreneurship received a huge boost with the launch of the Big Idea Center, kicked off with a seed gift of $2 million from Pitt trustee Bob Randall and his family. For 10 years the Big Idea competition has been Pitt’s and the region’s largest student idea pitch competition, awarding $100,000 annually. Entrepreneurship skills are applicable not only to starting new enterprises but also to leading innovation initiatives in large companies or nonprofits. The Big Idea Center coalesces a range of programming and resources created over the past four years to meet growing demand from Pitt students for hands-on entrepreneurship experiences. The progress of Pitt student entrepreneurs in recent years is exemplified this year by two Pitt student teams being accepted for the first time into the prestigious Rice Business Plan Competition and by team Four Growers’ winning the runner-up prize at the annual ACC InVenture Prize competition. Four Growers, which is developing a robotic system for greenhouse harvesting, was subsequently accepted into Y Combinator, one of the top startup accelerators in the world.
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH INNOVATORS ARE ON A ROLL. By nearly every measure, fiscal year 2018 demonstrated that the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship at Pitt is blossoming. The University set new records for invention disclosures submitted (363—nearly one for every day of the year), licenses and options (162), and startups formed (23). The startup number is a more than 50 percent increase over last year (15) and would have placed Pitt in the top five universities nationally* based on 2017 reported results. The increase in startups is driven by several factors: • Participation by Pitt faculty, staff, and students in the Innovation Institute’s commercialization education and mentoring programs is steadily increasing. • There is expanded availability of gap funding to facilitate the journey from the lab to the market. One of this year’s startups, Atlas MedTech, which is seeking to commercialize a surgical retractor tool, leveraged nearly $300,000 in funding from various University sources over the past three years to conduct customer discovery and market research and develop prototypes. • The Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) program is providing Pitt innovators with invaluable mentoring and is helping to form startups, including Atlas, where EIR Joseph Marcanio has signed on as chief executive to license the technology and take it out of the University. • Recent updates to the University’s conflict of interest policy make it easier for faculty and students to take equity stakes and executive roles in startups based on their research. Our progress is being recognized. The Innovation Institute was honored to receive the 2018 Exemplary Practice in Technology Commercialization award from the Deshpande Symposium for Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Higher Education. Pitt also rose in the rankings of worldwide university patent issuances to 21st, up from 35 in 2015 and 27 in 2016, according to the National Academy of Inventors and Intellectual Property Owners Association annual report.
*Universities reporting as individual entities and not part of state university systems
The University set new records for invention disclosures submitted, licenses and options, and startups formed. Some other highlights for the year include the following: • In October, the Innovation Institute was renewed as a National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps) site program for three years. I-Corps provides funding for early stage innovation teams to explore the commercial potential of their discoveries. Since 2015, 104 teams have participated in the Pitt Ventures First Gear program, which administers I-Corps at Pitt. Those teams have received more than $300,000 in funding to advance their ideas toward commercialization, resulting in 16 startups. • As part of our multifaceted partnership with the Sleep and Respiratory Care division of Philips, we hosted the inaugural Philips Grand Challenge, which awarded $100,000 to three Pitt innovation teams focused on sleep and respiratory care. • Another new funding opportunity launched in partnership with the Department of Athletics and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, along with the Offices of Research and the Provost. The Performance Innovation Tournament awarded $150,000 to two innovation teams that developed solutions for problems presented by Pitt athletic trainers and coaches. • The Innovation Institute’s affiliated Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence helped form or purchase 75 companies last year and provided more than 8,000 hours of business consulting while assisting in securing more than $18 million in financing or equity for regional small businesses.
URES
329
PATENTS
363 74
66
102
98
2017
2018
80
INNOVATION COMMERCIALIZATION 2017
2014
2018
162 274
307 314 329
363
STARTUPS STARTUPS
INVENTION DISCLOSURES
274 6 2017
2016
363 23 INVENTION DISCLOSURES INVENTION DISCLOSURES
146
2015
20182014
2015
2016
2017
2018
98 DEALS
U.S. PATENTS ISSUED PATENTS 150
116 121
74
66
2014
2015
146 102
80 2016
2017
162 98
13
UPMC ALLIANCE PATENTSAGREEMENTS 23
74 13 15 363 11 314 329 307
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018 2014
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
PATENTS
$7.2M 102
66
80
98
74
2016
2017
2018
2014
2015
2016
2017
LICENSES/ OPTIONS DEALS 150
116 121
146
STARTUPS
STARTUPS
SINCE INCEPTION STARTUPS 23 162
6 2014
2018
2018
13
15
$THIRD-PARTY 1.23B 11
2015
2016
2017
2018
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2014
INVESTMENT
322
IN PITT STARTUPS (CUMULATIVE SINCE 1997)
OTHER AGREEMENTS
STARTUPS
23
2015
162 166
6
2014
66
REVENUE
2015
11 2015
2
REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
75
NEW COMPANIES FORMED/ PURCHASED
1,209
BUSINESSES SERVED
$18.6M
AMOUNT OF FINANCING OR EQUITY SECURED
250
MEMBER COMPANIES
8,424
HOURS OF BUSINESS CONSULTING
556
JOBS CREATED OR RETAINED
$31.7M SALES INCREASE
65
PEOPLE IN ENTREPRENEURIAL FELLOWS PROGRAMS
45
COMMUNITY POWER TO PROSPER PARTICIPANTS
The University of Pittsburgh is an affirmative action, equal opportunity institution. Published in cooperation with the Office of University Communications. 111252-0818
Innovation Institute
Gardner Steel Conference Center 130 Thackeray Avenue Pittsburgh PA 15260
412-383-7670 innovation.pitt.edu @PittInnovates