For our 10th anniversary, we interviewed Larry Hecker, attorney at Hecker Pew PLLC. A UArizona alum, Larry has been involved in the startup and entrepreneurial community for decades, and serves on the TLA advisory board. For his demonstrated commitment and achievements in advancing UArizona commercialization and the entrepreneurial ecosystem, TLA honored him with the David N. Allen Award for Leadership and Vision in 2022.
"I think the results have been much more entrepreneurship, much more capital formation, much more recognition of the importance of tech transfer – of moving the ideas out of the university and into the marketplace. I think the attitudes toward tech transfer have changed, and now I think the scientific research community sees the university and TLA as a partner: someone there that's to help not just to license the technology, but also to assist in the formation of new companies." –Larry Hecker
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Transcript
I think the results have been much more entrepreneurship, much more capital formation, much more recognition of the importance of tech transfer – of moving the ideas out of the university and into the marketplace. It's very user friendly, truly. The idea – the notion – is to move the technology out of this great technology university into the marketplace, commercialize it, make it have some good for the world. Tech Launch is much more user friendly to the scientist, but also to the professional such as myself. It's much easier to get the licensing that's necessary for commercialization to begin.
I think (there has been) a continuation and an acceleration of what we've already seen. I think the attitudes toward tech transfer have changed, and now I think the scientific research community sees the university and TLA as a partner: someone there that's to help not just to license the technology, but also to assist in the formation of new companies.
As a lifelong Wildcat, this means a lot to me because now the university is known not just as a great sports giant, not as a great place to go to school, but also as a technological giant, and as a center for technology, for research – for very important research in many different areas.
We've seen the impact of TLA in the local economy already with job creation, with the recognition in a much broader scale nationwide that the Tucson that the University of Arizona can be and is a center for entrepreneurship.
I appreciate the way that you approach the discussion of tech transfer, of licensing. You’re fair, not unyielding, and reasonable, and it's much appreciated. The university is well represented. But so is the community.
I really enjoyed being on the TLA Advisory Board because it gives me a sense of what's going on. I've always thought that I've had a good understanding of what goes on at the university, but being on the TLA board gives me a much broader understanding of how much opportunity there is at the university when it comes to technology and tech transfer.