Research rock stars: Colorado universities are teeming with genius talent whose work carries great commercial potential for the cleantech industry.

• Author: Shapard, Chris

What are research rockstars? MIT and Standard know what they are. But does Colorado?

What and who are Colorado's research rock stars?

They are the men and women at the University of Colorado, Colorado State University and Colorado School of Mines who make game-changing discoveries in their labs AND are engaged in seeing those discoveries translated into products to be used for the greater good. They are researchers and entrepreneurs. They are Rock stars! We're so excited to share their stories here.

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Why do we care?

The researchers commercializing university discoveries bring value to Colorado in several ways. The intellectual property (IP) produced by them within our research institutions is an asset of the state. If it is determined that the IP has market potential, then there are opportunities to move it into the marketplace by licensing it to a company.

When licenses are agreed upon and royalties received, the resulting revenues return to our state institutions. At a time when state support of higher education is at its lowest point, this provides a means to backfill the missing state funding.

Our research rock stars are also instrumental in creating jobs in Colorado. When a company licenses university technology and sets up shop in Colorado, it begins to create direct jobs within the company--hiring scientists, business development and other executive talent. Additionally, startup companies require the services of accountants, attorneys, prototyping companies and other contractors that help grow employment in those sectors, as well. So, you see, these Research Rock stars really do influence job growth in Colorado.

Colorado Clean Technology Discovery Evaluation Grant Program

It takes a lot of hard work and money to successfully commercialize research discoveries. That's why the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association has worked diligently to fund the "Clean Technology Discover Evaluation Grant" program.

With the passage of SR 11-47 by the 2011 General Assembly, $2 million per year of grant funding will available for 10 years to conduct market assessments of technologies within the universities, to support companies commercializing university technologies and to initiatives that bridge the research-industry gap.

Funding at this early R&D stage has been proven to create jobs and companies, and is used as leverage to attract the professionally managed investment capital that our companies need to grow.

CCIA's Celebrate Cleantech Research!

As the only statewide cleantech organization working with CU, CSU, CSM and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to help bridge the divide between research and commercialization, the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association (CCIA) believes it is important to recognize the gems we have in Colorado.

Kudos and congratulations go to Katie Johnson at Colorado School of Mines, Amy Prieto, Bryan Willson, W. S. Sampath and Chuck Henry at Colorado State University and Bob Erickson, Gregor Henze and Al Weimer at the University of Colorado. We appreciate their scientific brilliance and entrepreneurial vision that enables their technology to move into the global marketplace.

Chris Shapard is executive director of the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association.

Research Rock Stars

The heroes of CU, CSU and the Colorado School of Mines are creating technology that is moving into the marketplace

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STORAGE STAR

CSU chemistry professor Amy Prieto aims for all-electric vehicles

Amy Prieto is in hot pursuit of the automotive industry's holy grail--a battery powerful and cheap enough to make all-electric cars the go-to clean energy vehicle.

The young CSU chemistry professor parlayed her research in nanotechnology into Prieto Battery, a 2009 startup that hopes to produce-batteries far more powerful and longer lasting, and much cheaper, than traditional ones. The technology also has potential applications that range from the military to health care to smart phones.

"If our battery works to its potential, it could be the ideal battery for an electric car," Prieto said. "We've had some cool breakthroughs recently, so I'm pretty excited."

Once a battery is "turned on," much of its efficiency is derived from how many live wires come in contact with each other. Using nanotechnology, the wires used in Prieto batteries cover a surface area that is 10,000 times greater than a traditional battery. A thousand such nanowires could fit in the width of a human hair.

Prieto joined CSU in 2005 as an assistant professor. She did her post-doctoral research at Harvard and received her doctoral degree from the University of California-Berkeley. She is now part of the university's Clean Energy Supercluster, known as Cenergy, which was formed to commercialize the research done at CSU. In 2009, when Prieto cofounded Prieto Battery, it was Cenergy's first startup.

Tim Reeser, Cenergy's chief operating officer, also lent a hand as unpaid CEO of Prieto Battery for a year.

"What stood out with Prieto Battery was the potential for transformational change," Reeser said. "If you look at the other battery startups around, almost all of them are trying to achieve incremental change. They either have a battery that is 10 percent better, or they have one that is much better but costs a fortune."

Prieto Battery also represented the first investment made by CSU Fund 1, a private equity fund set up to help the university bring its faculty's research to the marketplace.

"We were looking for game-changers, and this is one," said Mark Wdowik, executive director of the fund, which invested $250,000. That money, along with funding from Bohemian Asset Management in Fort Collins, has taken Prieto's battery research closer to the...