Twenty‐two startup companies from all over the state of Arizona presented their business concepts to potential investors, business mentors and partners during the 4th annual PitchDay at the Arizona Center for Innovation (AzCI) on May 9, 2013.

UA Distinguished Professor Dennis Ray will lead the effort of breeding guayule, a rubber-producing plant suited for arid environments, to achieve higher yields and reduced harvest cycle time. Tech Launch Arizona, a technology commercialization center at the UA, assisted with this partnership.

New faculty promotion and tenure guidelines take into account efforts in technology commercialization. The move is a cultural shift that emphasizes developing ideas with the potential to benefit the local and state economy, and beyond.

The University of Arizona on April 1 celebrated the grand opening of Tech Launch Arizona, a technology commercialization center established to help move University research innovations to market.

Tech Launch Arizona has announced that Doug Hockstad is the new director of the revitalized Office of Technology Transfer at the University of Arizona. The Office of Technology Transfer helps to accomplish the broader UA mission by providing services to faculty, streamlining the technology commercialization process and finding applications for University research.

Nineteen University of Arizona researchers are recipients of Proof of Concept Program Awards by the newly established Tech Launch Arizona (TLA). The purpose of the POC Program is to enable faculty with promising inventions and discoveries to address technological and commercial hurdles--moving them closer to commercialization.

The University of Arizona has named David N. Allen the inaugural executive director of Tech Launch Arizona, a technology commercialization center formed at the University late last year.