University of Utah ranks No. 1 for startups.

• Position: SALT LAKE AREA

Salt Lake City - The UNIVERSITY OF UTAH overtook MIT to become America's No. 1 research institution when it comes to creating startup companies based on university technology, and it achieved the top ranking with a fraction of the research budget of other major universities.

The ranking, for 2009, is the result of the latest annual survey conducted by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) of the nation's top research institutions. A year earlier, the University of Utah tied for first place with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was second to MIT during the previous two years.

"This is an amazing accomplishment," says Jack Brittain, vice president of Technology Venture Development, which oversees commercialization activity at the University of Utah. "Now we are first in the country. The ranking shows that the University of Utah is one of the leading...