|
 |
| Issue
No. 7 | UCLA's Research Collaboration Newsletter
| Spring, 2004 |
|
|
|
|
Additional Articles
Los Angeles-based Startup Combines UCLA Research, High-tech
Partner and VC Funding
ORFID
Corp. represents a business model bridging the gap between
the academic lab and the marketplace.
by
Jeyling Chou
|
UCLA
Faculty Inventor,
Dr. Yang Yang |
|
|
Technology
developed by the lab of UCLA materials science and engineering
professor, Yang Yang, has found a niche in industry.
Yang's work on organic
transistors and printable conductive polymers resulted in
ORFID Corporation, an academia-industry spin-out that merges
three local forces: UCLA research, San Fernando-based
high-tech company Precision Dynamics, and local venture
capital firm Convergent Ventures.
ORFID plans to further
develop Yang's technology and bring it to the marketplace.
Yang holds a position
on ORFID's Board of Directors and is Chairman of its Science
and Engineering Advisory Board, while Convergent and Precision
will contribute to the initial management of the company
and to its Board of Directors. Both Convergent and Precision
also invested in the new company.
“We're quite happy
that this technology has moved from the academic research
lab to industrial application,” Yang said.
“When
we decide to open the ORFID lab, we'll do it close
by UCLA.”
—Jon
Lasch, President, ORFID Corp. |
The patent rights for
two of Yang's inventions related to organic electronics
were licensed to ORFID by the UCLA Office of Intellectual
Property Administration (OIPA), and serve as the technology
platform around which the company was formed. The patent
rights relate to the production of organic electronic devices
and systems using a hybrid inkjet printing process.
“UCLA actively encourages
startup activities and we're pleased to have a local venture
capital firm invest in our technology and have our inventor
involved as well,” said Emily Loughran, director of licensing
for OIPA.
Loughran worked with
members of ORFID's management team through the negotiations
of the licensing deal, and established an agreement that
was equitable for all parties involved.
“While discharging
its fiduciary responsibilities to UCLA, (OIPA) was also
mindful of the constraints that a startup company might
have,” said Jon Lasch, ORFID's chairman and CEO and a managing
director at Convergent. “OIPA was really helpful at a critical
time for ORFID.”
ORFID hopes to apply
Yang's organic transistor technology initially to improve
the existing designs of flat-panel displays—used in
everything from cell phone screens to electronic billboards.
“We're interested in flexible electronics, in polymeric
semiconductors,” Lasch said.
“The organic transistor
would work with organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) to
make flexible displays. This would make them more economical
to produce, and the uses would be more widespread because
the cost of production would be lower,” he added.
Although much attention
is currently being given to organic electronics, the relatively
new field is not expected to overtake its older, solidly
established counterpart, the silicon semiconductor industry.
Organic electronics, like those being devised by ORFID,
will serve as useful and complementary technology.
“Silicon is not going
to go away,” Lasch said. “Our technology extends the current
technology into other applications that otherwise might
not be possible.”
In addition to applications
for flat panel displays, Yang's organic electronics technology
may start a revolution of its own by enabling the low-cost
manufacturing of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags
similar in function to the ubiquitous applications of modern
day barcodes.
Today, for example,
drivers who flash their permits to a machine in order to
enter the gates of UCLA parking structures are using radio
frequency technology.
“The machine sends
out a radio wave, and this card receives the wave and …
sends back a corresponding wave to the receiver,” explained
Yang. “The wave tells them who you are, and the gate opens.”
But the development
and application of Yang's technology will open innumerable
other gates.
Based on the vision
of Dr. Walter Mosher, Chairman and CTO of Precision Dynamics,
the company currently manufactures and markets wristbands
with RFID technology, which have been used in hospitals
for patient identification and at triathlons to monitor
athletes. Yang himself has personally experienced the utility
of these high-tech wristbands.
“When my wife delivered
our son and checked into the hospital, they put a wristband
on her with her name and blood type,” he said.
By licensing this inkjet
printing technology from UCLA, ORFID believes that the practical
possibilities could be endless.
“Using the UCLA technology,
we expect to develop many types of organic electronic components
that will be useful in a wide range of devices,” Lasch said.
ORFID plans to base
its headquarters on the Westside of LA. The company's collaboration
with UCLA may hold its greatest advantage in proximity—the
technology and the people involved in its development won't
be straying far from home.
“When we decide to
open the ORFID lab, we'll do it close by UCLA,” Lasch said.
“Because of the nature
of the company, we think it would be good if scientists
and engineers from UCLA had close access to the company
so that technology could be appropriately transferred and
developed faster.”
ORFID is a unique model
of bridging the gap between the academic lab and the marketplace
within the Los Angeles area.
“By creating companies
such as ORFID, we can create high quality jobs and bring
investment capital into the area, so that Los Angeles can
continue to grow as a technology center,” Lasch added.
 
Related Links
ORFID Corporation - www.orfid.com
Convergent Ventures - www.convergentventures.com
Precision Dynamics - www.pdcorp.com
Dr. Yang's Lab - www.seas.ucla.edu/yylabs
UCLA's OIPA - www.research.ucla.edu/oipa
RFID Forum at UCLA - www.wireless.ucla.edu/rfid/2004/
|
|
|
|