Arizona State University moved up three spots to rank 8th in U.S. utility patents issued to universities worldwide in 2021, continuing to contribute to America’s technological evolution and success.
This is the second time that ASU has ranked in the top 10 universities in the world and the fourth time that ASU has ranked in the top 10 of American universities in the United States. annual ranking by the National Academy of Inventors and the Intellectual Property Owners Association.
ASU was granted 153 US patents in 2021, joining other universities in the top 10, including MIT, Stanford University, Purdue University and Harvard University. The 153 ASU patents represent an increase from the 140 US patents the previous year.
“This significant recognition honors the collaboration, dedication and excellence of Arizona State University faculty,” said Sally C. Morton, executive vice president of ASU’s Knowledge Enterprise. “Our collective mindset – to inspire and support research that benefits the public – is advancing discovery at an incredible rate. It is our responsibility and our obligation to continue to move forward, to seek and find solutions that will positively impact our communities and the world in profound ways. Together, we are changing the way the world solves problems.
Last year, patents for ASU technologies included a “fingerprint for things” to improve product authenticity, trust and transparency in supply chains; a self-cleaning coating for solar panels; laboratory diamonds as semiconductors for electronic components; therapies to prevent neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease; and a vaccine delivery platform to vaccinate chickens.
Skysong InnovationsASU’s proprietary technology transfer and intellectual property management organization, helps translate research into impact by protecting intellectual property developed in ASU’s labs and negotiating licensing agreements with commercial partners who advance patented technologies and develop solutions for society.
The organization has been granted more than 1,300 cumulative US patents and entered into nearly 1,350 option or license agreements with business partners during its years of service at ASU. Skysong Innovations has facilitated over 200 ASU startups which have collectively attracted over $1.2 billion in external funding.
“Patents often play a key role in protecting a company’s competitive advantage in the marketplace,” said Kyle Siegal, senior vice president and chief patent advisor at Skysong Innovations. “For our business partners, whether new startups or established industry players, our patents build the confidence they need to invest their own resources in developing ASU innovations into cutting-edge products. . Along the way, these partners are also generating remarkable economic impact for Arizona and beyond as they create new employment opportunities within our communities.
To date, ASU-related startups have generated more than $2 billion in economic output in Arizona.
The report released today uses data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to find patents that list universities as first assignees. At a time of intense public debate over intellectual property protection, the report aims to highlight the importance of patents in academic research and innovation.
“Innovation based on university technology continues to be a key driver of economic development. The expansion of technology and innovation is fundamental to the success of a university,” said Paul Sanberg, president of the National Academy of Inventors.
ASU has been ranked #1 in innovation by US News and World Report for the category’s seven-year history. ASU President Michael Crow said a key is innovation combined with cross-disciplinary collaboration and partnerships within ASU and with external partners to help accelerate discovery and bring the scale of solutions to global problems.
“ASU is the global patent top 10, alongside MIT, Stanford and Harvard, because of our fast-paced, entrepreneurial approach to solving global challenges,” Crow said. “The patents and innovations being developed here at ASU are having an impact in the real world, right now.”
Recent patents at ASU are as varied as the teams pursuing them. Below is a closer look at some of the ASU technologies that received patents in 2021:
“Fingerprints for things”
Startup ASU DENSEC, through its subsidiary DENSEC IDdevelops “fingerprints for objects” – unique and secure physical identifiers that guarantee product authenticity and provide transparency and trust in supply chains.
“Fingerprints” uses a continuously branching tree form, giving it a unique, unclonable pattern, to provide a distinctive identity to securely link real-world items to their associated information in the cloud.
Dendritic ID technology was invented by Michael Kozickico-founder of DENSEC, professor at School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering and Senior Global Futures Scholar at ASU. The patented technology is licensed exclusively to DENSEC by Skysong Innovations.
Alexandre Outy, co-founder and CEO of DENSEC ID, said ASU’s entrepreneurship and innovation programs provide a great platform “for me to get involved and learn about innovation. and entrepreneurship, to meet like-minded people from very different backgrounds and finally gave me the chance to meet my now co-founder, Michael Kozicki.
Self-cleaning coating for solar panels
The flagship of the ASU spin-out Quick Coat is a self-cleaning coating for solar panels. When a solar panel is dirty, it can produce 30% less energy than a clean panel.
The coating is made up of nanoparticles that use the sun’s UV light to fuel a chemical reaction that breaks down dirt that collects on the panel, keeping it clean and running at high efficiency, said Peter Firth, co-founder of Swift Coat. .
Zachary HolmanAssociate Professor at the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering and Director of Faculty Entrepreneurship at the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, is the co-founder of Swift Coat. He invented aerosol impact assembly, the manufacturing technology used by Swift Coat to produce the coating on a commercial scale. The patented technology is exclusively licensed to Swift Coat by Skysong Innovations.
“Since granting intellectual property clearance to ASU, Swift Coat has grown from one to five full-time employees, received over $3 million in federal research grants, raised $1 million in venture capital, has become cash flow positive and is about to start in droves. production of their first commercial product,” said Firth.
“Much of this success can be attributed to the strength of the intellectual property produced by ASU, but the relationship we have established with the university is equally important. Our first grants came from partnerships with ASU labs, and our first full-time employees were the students who worked in those labs. Our first investors and our first paying customers came through presentations made by Skysong Innovations. ASU has done everything possible to reduce the friction faced by startups and we have undoubtedly been able to grow and grow faster with their support.
Laboratory diamonds as semiconductors
Diamond, a material hard enough to cut almost anything and long considered a valuable gemstone, is now used as a semiconductor for electronic components.
Starting the ASU Advent Diamond grows phosphorus-doped diamond to produce semiconductor-based electronic components, including high-end diodes, X-ray beam monitoring instrument and radiation detectors. Advent Diamond is the first American company to exploit a technique that introduces phosphorous impurities while growing diamond layers.
“These components are critical to innovation in telecommunications, power systems, quantum and advanced sensors,” said Manpuneet Kaur Benipal, co-founder and CEO of Advent Diamond, Inc.
Therapies to stop neurodegenerative diseases
AcureX therapeuticsa start-up associated with both Stanford University and ASU, is developing therapies to stop neurodegenerative diseases caused by altered mitophagy, starting with Parkinson’s disease.
Several of the company’s candidate therapies use intellectual property developed at ASU.
Vaccines to improve food quality and safety
Roy Curtiss III, former director of the Biodesign Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, has spent years developing technology for new vaccines to improve food quality and safety and prevent serious infections in humans and animals. .
He founded Curtiss Healthcare, an ASU spin-off company, in 2015 and developed a patented attenuated salmonella recombinant vaccine delivery platform to vaccinate chickens against necrotic enteritis. The disease is difficult to treat and has a high mortality rate, which can cost the broiler industry billions each year.
Curtiss, Wei Kong, a professor at the Biodesign Center for Immunotherapy, Vaccines and Virotherapy, and collaborators were named inventors of an ASU patent exclusively licensed from Skysong Innovations to Curtiss Healthcare for their bacteria-based vaccine delivery method, which was used to bring the WARN NE vaccine on the market.
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