This is the first of several Tech Talks in the coming months that will reference the Indiana Vision 2025: 2021 Report Card, which will be published approximately one month from today. For reasons outlined below, I thought that this would be a great place to kick things off.
As (I hope) you are aware, Indiana Vision 2025 is the Indiana Chamber’s economic playbook for improving the state’s economy. We track approximately 70 metrics and nearly 40 goals, all underneath four global drivers: (i) Outstanding Talent, (ii) Attractive Business Climate, (iii) Superior Infrastructure, and (iv) Dynamic and Creative Culture. Every two years, the Chamber publishes a Report Card, which measures Indiana’s progress in achieving the goals by comparing how Indiana ranks in the metrics versus the other 49 states.
One of the goals is to “Increase intellectual property commercialization from higher education and business and attain ‘Top 5’ ranking per capita among all states.” To evaluate Indiana’s progress, we use University Business Spinouts (i.e., higher education research and development per university spinout) and number of University Licenses and Options executed. The 2019 Report Card ranked Indiana ninth in the former metric and 10th in the latter. Unfortunately, the 2021 Report Card will show that Indiana ‘s ranking dropped slightly in both categories and the state fell out of the top 10.
However, a recent and relevant success story caught my eye. Neuro Vigor, a start-up affiliated with Purdue University, won a $100,000 Early Commercialization Award from the Indiana Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Fund. Neuro Vigor’s goal is to develop and commercialize technology and ultimately create an FDA-cleared drug and diagnostic for degenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s. This is the first time the research fund has provided support to an early commercialization company.
Neuro Vigor was founded in 2013 to monetize 15 years of path-breaking research of its co-founder, Dr. Riyi Shi, who was born and educated in China and is now Purdue’s Mari Hulman George Endowed Professor of Applied Neuroscience, director of the Center for Paralysis Research in the College of Veterinary Medicine and a professor of biomedical engineering. Purdue has surrounded Dr. Shi with resources and support to commercialize his research.
In 2014, Neuro Vigor signed an exclusive worldwide license with the Purdue Research Foundation to develop and commercialize its technology. Dr. Shi also works with Purdue’s Office of Technology Commercialization, one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S., to patent his discoveries. And the Neuro Vigor team worked with the Purdue Foundry, an entrepreneurship and commercialization hub, to formulate a research project that will involve collaboration with scientists from the University of Western Australia.
Dr. Shi is quoted as saying, “It is an incredible honor to be recognized for our efforts to bring meaningful research out of the lab and into the clinic. These advances benefit not only Purdue and the scientific arena but most importantly patients.”
Indiana Vision 2025 and the Report Cards are intended to “keep score” for Indiana’s economic progress on a number of fronts. However, sometimes it is easy, as the saying indicates, to not see the forest through the trees rather than take time to appreciate the “small victories” that happen every day in our great state. Stories like Neuro Vigor remind us that by investing in innovation and entrepreneurship, we will continue making Indiana a destination for businesses and talent from around the country and the world.
