New appointee to help commercialize scientific concepts developed at U of M

The Commercial Appeal
January 28, 2008
By Daniel Connolly

Small firms in the technology and science sectors have a new resource: Kevin Boggs, whose job is to commercialize ideas developed at the University of Memphis.

Boggs, who started work Jan. 2, said he's open to hearing from established businesses of any size that want to work with university researchers.

Such collaborations can lead to profits. One of the most well-known examples is Gatorade, a sports drink that University of Florida researchers created in 1965 and licensed to the private sector. It's brought the university tens of millions of dollars.

By coincidence, Boggs worked in the University of Florida's technology licensing office for more than four years. Now, he's looking for the next sales hit here.

"I'm confident I'll be meeting with a faculty member every other day for some time," Boggs said.

Several University of Memphis professors have business ambitions. For instance, chemist Eugene Pinkhassik has several promising ideas, including a plan to place protective layers on the inside of copper pipes to prevent corrosion.

When Boggs meets researchers, he tries to determine if their ideas are original enough to be protected by patents. If so, the university could license the ideas to another company, big or small, or seek investors to create an entirely new company.

The university and the researcher could receive a cut of any licensing fees or royalties.

Boggs, 48, has a doctorate in molecular and cellular biology and a master's in business administration.

He has a background in scientific research and was working in business development at a startup drug company in Alachua, Fla. called Applied Genetic Technologies Corp. for about two-and-a-half years before moving to Memphis with his wife, Theresa, and 8-year-old daughter, Zoe, a few weeks ago.

Boggs and his wife knew the Memphis area because they had worked at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in the 1990s.

Hiring someone like Boggs was one of the top priorities for Shaye Mandle, who in August became executive director of the FedEx Institute of Technology on the University of Memphis campus.

The institute opened in 2003 and is meant to foster connections between the university and the business world.

But none of the institute's leaders has stayed long, and the organization is just now building an infrastructure for commercializing discoveries.

"The University of Memphis has essentially no history of being associated with startup companies," Mandle said.

Mandle said the university selected Boggs after screening 40 applicants. "He came from an extremely strong pool," he said.

Gwin Scott, president of EmergeMemphis, a program that helps young businesses grow, was one of the people who met Boggs during the selection process. Scott said he was impressed.

"Having him here is really a coup for Memphis and the U of M," he said. "And Shaye, I can't leave him out."

The university's tech transfer office isn't the only resource in Memphis for small science-based businesses. The University of Tennessee Health Science Center has an arm that handles intellectual property, and a new firm called Innova Inc. is backed by public and private money and is looking to fund small science-based startups. And for firms that are relatively mature but need cash to grow, there's MB Venture Partners, a private investment group.

Mandle and Boggs say they will focus on the earliest stages of creating a business, but will work with entities like Innova and MB Venture Partners as the ideas progress.

They also anticipate working with the intellectual property arm of the University of Tennessee to patent ideas. At the same time, the FedEx Institute is funding on-campus research that's especially promising.

Boggs said the Mid-South is ready for growth in science-based businesses.

"Memphis just seems primed for this sort of thing," he said.

-- Daniel Connolly: 529-5296

Kevin Boggs

Director of Technology Transfer and Research Development

Address: 365 Innovation Drive

Telephone: 678-1596

Boggs said he will speak to established businesses of any size that want to work with university researchers. But he said he can't review ideas from individuals who aren't affiliated with a company.