Funding from institute allows innovation center to help commercialize tech

Anyone who's spent five minutes in the Boulder Valley knows that this region ranks among the most innovative in the world. Whether it's preservation of open space, design of the Pearl Street Mall or emergence of new technologies, Boulder, Broomfield, Longmont and the other communities of the Boulder Valley rank among the top for ideas that are ahead of their time.

So it's good to see organizations such as the Boulder Innovation Center working closely with the University of Colorado to foster innovation and the commercialization of technologies. In the latest example of collaboration, the BIC has received funding from the Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology at CU to expand the BIC's bioscience program.

The BIC, led by Executive Director Tim Bour, fosters growth of tech-oriented and other businesses, including spinoff companies from CU. Member businesses pay $750 per month for programs that include access to an experienced corps of advisers, assistance in planning and other resources, one-on-one access to a program manager, networking opportunities and much more. (That adviser corps, by the way, includes many of the top names in Boulder entrepreneurship. Think Barney Feinblum, Mel Coleman Jr., Steve Demos and many more.)

The CIMB, meanwhile, is nothing less than a focal point for CU's molecular-biology program. It's led by Nobel laureate and CU distinguished professor Tom Cech and Director Leslie Leinwand. The initiative was founded in 2003 "to foster research, teaching and technology development at the interfaces of life sciences, physical sciences, math, computational sciences and engineering," according to a BIC press release.

The CIMB will be housed in a new building under construction in the University of Colorado Research Park. The facility will house not only CIMB but also the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Biochemistry Division, providing cutting-edge laboratory space for 60 faculty and 600 researchers.

The BIC focuses on several key industries, including bioscience. Tim Prodanovich, the BIC's bioscience program manager, will work to expand collaboration with CIMB faculty "to identify promising commercial applications related to inventions resulting from their research," the release said. Prodanovich will work with CIMB and the University of Colorado Technology Transfer Office to get key bioscience discoveries into the marketplace.

Cech was enthusiastic about the arrangement. "We are pleased to partner with the Boulder Innovation Center's Bioscience Program in its efforts to commercialize inventions and technologies developed through the Colorado Initiative in Molecular Biotechnology," he said in a statement.  "Our shared goal is to bolster biotechnology innovation in the region."

Boulder has developed a significant strength in the bioscience arena, generating thousands of jobs and vast sums of money that have come into the local economy. Companies such as Amgen Inc., Roche Colorado, Array BioPharma Inc. and many others would not be here if not for the university.

Some individuals have lamented the fact that many bioscience startups grow to a size where they become buyout targets. At times, those operations then leave the area. (We saw this with Celgene Corp.'s acquisition of Pharmion Corp. last year for $2.9 billion.)

But guess what? Pharmion co-founder Patrick Mahaffy has formed another company, Clovis Oncology Inc. in Boulder, which is poised to use $145 million in venture funding to grow rapidly. Innovation breeds innovation, and the BIC is helping to accelerate that trend.

Christopher Wood can be reached at 303-440-4950 or via e-mail at cwood@bcbr.com.