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USM Forum -- Message Board -> AAUP-USM MESSAGE BOARD -> Noetics Millionaires coming soon
Post Info TOPIC: Noetics Millionaires coming soon
tomcat

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Noetics Millionaires coming soon
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ENTREPRENEURS, NOETIC TECHNOLOGIES INC.
LICENSE PRODUCT TO CALIFORNIA COMPANY


        HATTIESBURG -- Noetic Technologies Inc., a company created for entrepreneurs at The University of Southern Mississippi, has announced its first business partnership with Biocare Medical of Walnut Creek, Calif.
        Dean Bertram, a forensics instructor at Southern Miss, and Kim Wright, a histology technician at Forrest General, have signed a licensing agreement with Biocare Medical that will allow the company to produce and market a tissue rehydration agent the duo created. The solution, which would make it easier for coroners to revive fingerprints and identify dead bodies, will be sold as a kit to crime labs and law enforcement agencies.
        The inventors of the solution were paid a technology fee for their intellectual property and will receive a percentage of future sales, as will the university, Noetics president and CEO Dr. Les Goff said.
        "These are the type of opportunities Noetic Technologies was created to produce," Goff said. "I must say that Dean and Kim are the type of inventors and entrepreneurs that we need. Through their curiosity and hard work they pushed to make this happen."
        The project came together after Wright started brainstorming about other potential uses for a buffer salt solution she was using at the time to test tumors. Wright approached Bertram about the forensic possibilities of the solution, and the two soon began doing research together.
        Bertram and Wright tested the product on themselves, purposefully drying their skin and applying the solution to see if it would reinvigorate their skin cells, which it did. "The solution works great for enhancing tumors, so I had an idea this would help in fingerprinting," Wright said.
        The benefits of the solution are many, Bertram said. "It's nontoxic, so you can use it at the scene of a crime, in the field or in a lab."
        Bertram said the solution could be used to identify a decomposed body when the fingerprints are too shriveled to lift. "We can soak the hand in the solution and bring up ridge details (in the fingers) to the point where they can get a print. That way, if you have their prints in a data bank somewhere, they can be identified," he said.
        Although Wright and Bertram have not tested the solution on a cadaver, it is currently being tested by the Department of the Army's Criminal Investigation Laboratory in Iraq, Bertram said. The results have not been returned yet, he said.
        In August, Bertram and Wright will take their product to St. Louis for one of the largest forensic science conventions in the nation.

 



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Harry Gilmer

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Any word on the incentive scheme for side payments?


HG



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The Shadow

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Does this mean that products or processes developed on university time and with university equipment can be sold for personal profit? Didn't the guy at U. of Florida who invented Gatorade come up empty handed?

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Coyboy's Sweetheart

Date:
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quote:
Originally posted by: The Shadow
"Does this mean that products or processes developed on university time and with university equipment can be sold for personal profit? Didn't the guy at U. of Florida who invented Gatorade come up empty handed? "
Those who use university resources for personal profit should find a new career. Aren't there statues governing such matters?

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Invictus

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quote:
Originally posted by: Coyboy's Sweetheart
"Those who use university resources for personal profit should find a new career. Aren't there statues governing such matters? "


This sort of arrangement is authorized by the Mississippi University Research Authority Act (MURA). Here's an overview of MURA stolen from the Ole Miss ORSP website:

The Mississippi Legislature created MURA in 1992 to facilitate economic development within the state by encouraging the development of cooperative ventures among the state's educational institutions, government and business.

The MURA Act provides that "notwithstanding any other provision of state law" [the Ethics in Government Act], an employee of a university may apply to MURA for permission to establish and maintain a material financial interest in a private e ntity which provides or receives equipment, material, supplies or services in connection with the university in order to facilitate the transfer of technology developed by the employee from the university to commercial and industrial enterprises for econo mic development.

Prior to making application to MURA, the employee must first receive approval in writing from the chief executive officer (CEO) of the university at which he or she is employed. Permission may be granted by the CEO only if all of the following conditi ons are met:

1. Employee provides detailed description of interest in private entity to CEO;
2. Fully describes nature of the undertaking to CEO;
3. Demonstrates to satisfaction of CEO that the proposed undertaking may benefit the economy of the state;
4. Demonstrates to satisfaction of CEO that the proposed undertaking will not adversely affect research public service or instructional activities at the university; and,
5. Employee's interest in the private entity, or benefit from the interest, will not adversely affect any substantial state interest.

After approval is given by the CEO, MURA may authorize an employee to maintain a material financial interests in a private entity if it considers the same information and factors submitted to the CEO, makes positive findings as to all, and reflects this f act on its minutes. The CEO of the university at which the employee is employed may require that the university have a share in any royalties, proceeds or equity positions from the proposed undertaking of the private entity.

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Invictus

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Here's the link to the Ole Miss ORSP website.

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Invictus (frustrated)

Date:
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quote:
Originally posted by: Invictus
"Here's the link to the Ole Miss ORSP website."


This better work!

Wipes off face.


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Cowboy's Sweetheart

Date:
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quote:




Originally posted by: Invictus
The Mississippi Legislature created MURA in 1992 to facilitate economic development within the state by encouraging the development of cooperative ventures among the state's educational institutions, government and business.


But was MURA really necessary to encourage ". . .the development of cooperative ventures among the state's educational institutions, government and business."  I have personally done that for many years. I always assumed that was one of the missions of a taxpayer-supported university. There have been scores of projects at USM which facilitate economic development by encouraging the development of cooperative ventures. It seems to me that the basic difference is that MURA enables state employees to fatten their pocketbooks while using state resources.



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Cowboy's Sweetheart

Date:
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quote:
Originally posted by: Cowboy's Sweetheart
""

Here are some interesting statements from the Ole Miss site which Invictus posted:


". . .The policy does not eliminate or dilute the more stringent state laws concerning conflicts of interest on the part of public employees . . .


. . . A potential Conflict of Interest occurs when there is a divergence between an individual's private interests and his or her professional obligations to the University such that an independent observer might reasonably question whether the individual's professional actions or decisions are influenced by considerations of personal financial gain. An actual conflict of interest depends on the situation."


Of course I am sure that nobody across campus would be ". . . . influenced by considerations of personal financial gain." Right? What is this business of making faculty millionaires all about anyway?


 


 



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