Department contributes to record number of University inventions

University of Arizona inventors generated 307 new inventions during the 2024 fiscal year, a record number. Tech Launch Arizona, the UA office that commercializes inventions stemming from university research, said inventions were up from 298 in fiscal year 2023 and 303 in fiscal year 2022. Engineering faculty were involved in over 20% of the university’s patents for the past year. College faculty and alumni are also sharing knowledge with peers and students and ensuring inventions make it to the marketplace.

TLA also launched the Faculty Innovation Ambassadors program in 2024 to increase commercialization activity. BME professor Frederic Zenhausern will serve as program ambassador, providing information about inventions, licensing and startups for their colleagues and students. TLA has planned a series of fall events to introduce the ambassadors to their college communities.

Zenhausern is also director of the Director of the UA Center for Applied Nanobioscience and Medicine. He has co-founded four startups, authored more than 90 peer-reviewed publications, and is an inventor on over 30 issued U.S. patents. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.

In fiscal year 2024, TLA helped launch nine startups to commercialize university inventions, up from seven the previous year. Engineering faculty and alumni were key to creating the technologies behind several new companies.

Ancerix is commercializing medical devices for orthopedic surgical procedures, invented by Daniel Latt, associate professor in the College of Medicine – Tucson and the College of Engineering, and a multidisciplinary team of inventors who are pursuing degrees or graduated from the UA, including BME alumni Carlos Urea-De La Puerta and Erick De Leon.