USU on a patent binge

LOGAN — Years of research and labor are bearing fruit for Utah State University, as a record number of inventions are receiving patents this year.

In fiscal year 2009, after receiving 80 idea disclosures from students and professors about potential inventions, a record 44 patent applications were filed and 11 patents were issued to USU, along with 10 commercialized technologies that fall into the “copyright category.”

This is the most ever received by USU’s Technology Commercialization Office in a single year, according to the university.

Clair Batty, the former leader of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at USU, said good things are going to happen, but a celebration may be premature.

“We’re still on the front end and a lot of people are excited, but I am always a little reticent,” Batty said. “My colleagues and I have a flurry of patent applications, but the process is becoming a little more complicated. It takes years sometimes to get the patents granted.”

In fiscal year 2008, 62 ideas were disclosed to the TCO, 26 patent applications filed and five patents received at USU.

Utah State also created a record number of companies this fiscal year. Two companies, Thermal Management Technologies and Eco Air Tech, were established by Batty, a retired engineering professor.

“This is a time of greater service to the people of Utah through efforts to commercialize technologies that can make a difference and boost the economy,” said Batty, who said he was prepared for life by turkey farming as a young man.

“I am impressed with the direction, vision and cooperation of Utah State University with everything we are trying to do.”

Another USU spinoff success story is Dynamic Screening Solutions, a Web-based paperless solutions company.

USU’s College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences also spun out its first company, Utah State University Archeological Service Inc., which offers services in cultural resource management archaeology and provides employment and thesis opportunities for anthropology students.

Ray DeVito, director of the Technology Commercialization Office, is encouraged by the progress made in recent years.

“Utah State continues to produce marketable technologies that benefit the local and state communities,” he said. “The work we’ve done is making a difference in the lives of the Cache Valley community and in the lives of Utahns throughout the state.”