Report Highlights Academic Role in Innovation, Responding to Disasters

Newswise — DEERFIELD, Ill. – … A chance remark in a meeting leads to a revolution in broadband technology…a teabag, activated carbon and a hair straightener inspire a tiny water filter… a trip to the hardware store and a little ingenuity results in more efficient tool to track disease-carrying insects…an invention puts cow manure to work to clean up soil…

These are just a few of the discoveries featured in the 2011 edition of the AUTM Better World Report, a collection of stories about technologies that originated in academic research and were brought to the public through technology transfer, the process of universities licensing technologies to companies that then commercialize the academic inventions resulting in real products that make the world a healthier and safer place.

The 2011 edition of the report, which is published by the Association of University Technology Managers, highlights some of the innovations that are helping the world respond, recover and restructure in the face of human-made and natural disasters. It includes a foreword by American Red Cross President Gail J. McGovern.

“Technology transfer improves the quality of life for all of us, but it also fosters economic growth, new companies and new jobs in both new and existing companies,” says AUTM President Robin Rasor, CLP, RTTP. "From the Corn Belt of the Midwest to the Canadian metropolis to the heart of South Africa, these stories represent the amazing range of needs that these innovations address. From the food we eat, to the resources we use, to the water we drink, to the land we live on, and to the state of our health."

For more information about AUTM and the Better World Project, or to download a free copy of the Better World Report, visit www.betterworldproject.net.

About AUTM

The Association of University Technology Managers is a nonprofit organization with an international membership of more than 3,000 technology managers and business executives. AUTM members — managers of intellectual property, one of the most active growth sectors of the global economy —come from more than 300 universities, research institutions and teaching hospitals as well as numerous businesses and government organizations.