feature story INNOVATION
Housing Innovation
Harold Strong directs
UNT’s Discovery Park and
Technology Transfer,
which protects the
intellectual property
assets of UNT and the
licensing technology
developed by its faculty
and innovators.
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with private server space on public clouds, an approach that clients like for its flexibility, security and
reliability. IBM, the world’s largest technology company, agrees that this Dallas-based firm is the next
wave, though this company’s success might be one of
the more quiet stories of innovation.
For how much Texans have a “larger-than-life”
persona, we’re not always the first to toot horns, says
Harold Strong with the University of North Texas. That
kind of humble mentality that Jack Kilby portrayed is
found even today, as successes can fly below the collective radar.
“This is the kind of thing you might not know
about,” Strong explains. “The headlines that no one
read over the past year – with the primary one being
SoftLayer, acquired by IBM for how much money?
Over the past six months, you can find at least one notable transaction a month that no one has talked about.
It’s not that we’re not innovative; we don’t talk about
how innovative we really are.”
Strong sees these possibilities first-hand, in his position as director of UNT’s Discovery Park and Technology Transfer, a confluence of knowledge, people
and resources for technological innovation, incubation
and commercialization at the university.
“In the lab, for example, researchers are doing all
kinds of cool things and coming up with new technology. That is the seed that entrepreneurs try to plant to
grow their companies. What we are doing is building
that bridge, making that synapsis smaller between the
researcher and the entrepreneur. Discovery Park will
help get the technology in front of the entrepreneur to
match the business model to the technology. For those
who can break the secret on how to do that, their success will be incredible.”
UNT is one of several higher education universities
in the Dallas-Fort Worth area – including Southern
Methodist University, University of Texas at Dallas,
Texas Christian University, The University of Texas at
Arlington and more – that are not only fostering students’ interest in research, but also entrepreneurship,
growing the next phase of brilliant minds that will take
these ideas from bench to business in a supportive
North Texas environment primed to develop the next
integrated circuit or cloud computing innovation.
“Our culture is changing to accept innovation more
openly,” Strong explains. “We are more of an emerging research university. For these innovators, it can be
scary with no net to step out and look for a structure to
support you. We provide that for them.”
An approach to entrepreneurship from higher education institutions in North Texas has experts across
the country taking notice. Jasper Welch, president and
CEO of the National Business Incubation Association,
notes that this books-to-bench-to-business approach
is a hallmark of North Texas, an aspect that allows the
area to compete with any other for that next big idea.
“Your higher education and business schools are
world class. MBA interns, graduates and programs are
part of the underlying support for business in North
Texas,” said Welch.
UNT Discovery Park is establishing an ‘entrepreneurship in residence’ program involving an established network of alumni from UNT that will enhance
the region, notes Strong. Mentors will provide direct
honesty and opinions as professionals who have the
experience and can offer the support and connections
necessary to build a successful network.
The program establishes memorandums of understanding to partner with communities like Flower
Mound, Texas, which will assist entrepreneurs in that
city. The community hosts the entrepreneurs and supports their ideas with funding, while UNT provides
thought leadership, lab space, time with business leaders and more. UNT Discovery Park is already working with a handful of companies in the DFW area and
more located virtually.
“What we have going for us is that we are an individual community loosely organized around the
DFW area,” Strong explained. “The great thing about
DFW is that we work together, but we are also independent. As we begin to communicate, we foster a
spirit of ‘friendly co-opetiton.’”
North Texas Booming
The anecdotal evidence only echoes the activity that
the numbers support. Data from Research from Your
Economy indicate that in the [\