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FEATURE
Last year the University's main technology transfer office, Columbia Innovation Enterprise, which handles patents and licenses for such things as pharmaceuticals and software, was No. 1 in the nation with $141.6 million in income from those deals. Now the University has formed a second unit, exclusively to handle new media enterprises. Digital Knowledge Ventures, as the new organization is called, "is an interface between the market and the University," says Michael Crow, executive vice provost. Its counterpart, formerly CIE, has been renamed Science and Technology Ventures, and both units fall under a new umbrella organization, Columbia Innovation Enterprises. "It's mission is to link Columbia's intellectual capital with financial capital," Crow says. The University spends generously on digital resources for students and faculty; it wants to make money back when new media innovations or content can be marketed commercially. Part of the reason for DKV is that the University wanted a central office to shepherd all the new media projects that could be sold, since the Internet alone has exploded the possibilities for the University and its faculty to market digital content. "Education is being recognized as the next killer application on the Internet, and with that kind of money and opportunity flying around, we're better off if we do this together," says Todd Hardy, DKV's executive director. A new intellectual property policy adopted last summer by the University sought to clarify when and to what extent projects were owned by the University, and how the revenues from them, if any, are to be divided. DKV is an advantage to faculty and creators because when a product or idea seems to have commercial potential, DKV figures out how it can be developed and marketed. That may involve negotiating a license agreement or, as Hardy says, "If the content is enough to build a business, we will build a business, incubate it, and help find investment for it." This has been a main function of CIE for years. About 30 start-up companies have come out of that office, with Columbia remaining a shareholder in many. The main project incubated by DKV to date is Fathom, a for-profit Web site that was initiated by DKV's predecessor, Morningside Ventures (before the name change to DKV, the office also was called Columbia Media Enterprises). Fathom now has several major partners in the educational field and has spun off on its own, with Columbia remaining the majority shareholder. DKV is the office that handles online courses being developed by the Business School and General Studies, and content that the University is providing to Web sites such as NutritionU.com. It is also developing Columbia Interactive, which will launch next fall from the main University home page. "It is an ordered presentation of the wonderful, free content that already exists on Columbia's Web site, but is buried," says Jenny Seymore, director of research at DKV. It will be a searchable resource for both students and the public, organized by subject area and including reference tools, online course material, faculty working papers, digital library resources and e-journals as well as a central chat area for students. "Our two goals are to promote the University and the faculty, and to bring in more financial resources," says Hardy.
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