A year since it was formed, WSU Ventures has already proven successful in furthering Wichita State University's mission to become an Innovation University.

WSU Ventures was formed to assist faculty, staff and students in applying and commercializing their ideas and intellectual property.

The center’s primary activities include protecting and licensing of WSU inventions; connecting industry with WSU researchers; and linking WSU researchers and technologies with start-up potential to investors and entrepreneurs.

Cindy Claycomb, director of WSU Ventures, says one of the center’s biggest achievements so far has been the steady upward trend in the number of invention disclosures.

In fiscal year 2013, there were 16 invention disclosures by Wichita State faculty, staff or students. There was a modest increase the next year to 22 disclosures. But in 2015, the first full fiscal year that WSU Ventures was in existence, the number nearly doubled, with 41 disclosures. 

“This is evidence of how having strong leadership that communicates a focus on the transfer of intellectual property for commercialization can have a positive effect,” says Becky Hundley, director of intellectual property and research compliance for WSU Ventures.

Another goal of WSU Ventures has been to raise awareness of technology transfer and the opportunities to disclose new inventions. In its first year, the center made more than 30 presentations and took part in more than 700 meetings.

The center also has been instrumental in bringing more than $10 million in government grant funding to the university and has worked to condense WSU’s intellectual property policy from three policies into one.

“WSU Ventures is an essential part of the Innovation University transformation at Wichita State,” said John Tomblin, vice president for research and technology transfer. “The goal is to focus on converting research into jobs and businesses and moving ideas and innovation into the marketplace, leading to an increase in license agreements and startups.”