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In March 2002, UT Arlington and the Arlington Chamber Foundation established the Arlington Technology Incubator (ATI).
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nnovation Arlington is a project of the Arlington Chamber Foundation, focused on the commercialization of technologybased research at the University of Texas at Arlington. It represents a collaborative public/ private sector partnership among the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, the University of Texas at Arlington (UT Arlington), and the City of Arlington. The Initiative is pursuing the development of integrated clusters in health sciences, advanced materials, and manufacturing that effectively support technology-led economic development. North Central Texas, with a population of 5.5 million, boasts the largest technologytrained workforce in the United States, outside Silicon Valley. Historically, research and technology have been the primary drivers of economic growth. Many technology-led economies are the result of effective partnerships between universities and the private sector, focused on technology transfer from the lab to the marketplace.
Arlington Technology Incubator In March 2002, UT Arlington and the Arlington Chamber Foundation established the Arlington Technology Incubator (ATI) to 24
2008 Arlington Chamber of Commerce
link the university to the private sector. The Technology Incubator was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce. It also houses the UT Arlington Office of Research’s Technology Transfer Office, Grant and Contract Division, and Research Compliance Division, enabling the Incubator to effectively facilitate the interaction necessary to introduce leading-edge university research into the private sector. In just three years, the Incubator has graduated three companies and has a present occupancy of 12 companies in fields such as surface analysis, computer hardware, software development, and data protection systems. The Incubator also offers continuing education and business services. Several client companies have received significant venture funding as well as federal SBIR grant monies.
University Research Initiatives In November 2002, the university established the Institute for Nanoscale Science and Engineering Research and Teaching, which brought together six UT Arlington research facilities in the Colleges of Science and Engineering to provide a coordinated approach for effective tech transfer, including the NanoFab
Research and Teaching facility (the only one of its kind in Texas, and among the first nationally), the Automation and Robotics Research Institute, the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratories, the Chemistry Research Building, the departmental research laboratories, and the Future Center for Nanostructured Materials. The second UT Arlington strategic development is a companion institute, the Bioscience and Bioengineering Center, which will interface biotechnology, informatics, nanoscience, and genomics R&D through cooperative research, joint grant request applications, and directed technology transfer.
World’s Best Technologies Showcase Arlington is hosting the World’s Best Technologies Showcase for the fifth year in March 2008, a national event produced in cooperation with the Federal Lab Consortium for Technology Transfer and the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds. The purpose is to develop relationships with sources of early-stage venture capital and to position the region as an emerging player in the commercialization of technology research. www.arlingtontx.com