For our 10th anniversary, we interviewed David Allen, former senior vice president of Tech Launch Arizona at the University of Arizona. In this video, Dave talks about what it was like to start Tech Launch Arizona, the foundational ideas behind the unit's strategy and team, and the continuing successes he expects to see in the coming years.
“Many people thought it was never going to happen. many people thought it was the wrong thing. I think time will tell that it was definitely the right thing... I think the message is clear: TLA has only just begun.” – David Allen
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Transcript:
The reputation of the tech transfer (office) previously was that it was isolated…that it was not very transparent. And we just changed that.
We built a strategic plan that happened at the same time the university was doing that, and some would say, ‘you can't do all that.’ It was a totally different model than existed previously. What we did was something that people hadn't seen and were ready to accept, and that was transparency, and accountability, where we put out reports and then projected forward. We said ‘this is what we expect that we'll be doing. We're working for you.’
We're working for the person that's coming up with these ideas, and we respect that, and we're going to do whatever we can to make your ideas go forward beyond.
It is all about people, and yeah, it's the technology that we're commercializing, but it's created by people. People are the ones that carry it forward.
It had to be in my mind people who wanted to have fun at what they were doing. And I'm glad to say that a lot of people stepped up. They wanted to see the university excel at this, and we got that reputation as a high-performance organization, and that continues. And I'm sure it will.
Many people thought it was never going to happen. many people thought it was the wrong thing. I think time will tell that it was definitely the right thing. There will be some major impact successes from the cohort of companies in technology, it's already happening. I can't think of anything else that is more rewarding and that I would have rather have done with that time, or frankly or to be any place else.
Well, I think the message is clear: TLA has only just begun.