Responding to an increased flow of commercialization opportunities, Executive Vice Provost Michael Crow has restructured the entrepreneurial units (CIE and CME) that oversee the transfer of Columbia's scientific and technological discoveries, intellectual property, and digital educational content to the marketplace. Under the new structure, CME (or Columbia Media Enterprises) becomes known as Digital Knowledge Ventures and CIE (or Columbia Innovation Enterprises) becomes known as Science and Technology Ventures.

Under the restructuring, a new umbrella organization, Columbia Innovation Enterprises (CIE), will consist of separate units devoted to science and technology (Science and Technology Ventures) and digital media (Digital Knowledge Ventures) that will oversee the development of new enterprises and commercial activity based on scientific and technological innovations and intellectual content developed by faculty and graduate students.

"Columbia Innovation Enterprises will be the entrepreneurial arm of Columbia University," said Crow. "Its mission is to link Columbia's intellectual capital with financial capital. Its charge is to secure maximum return to Columbia for its knowledge assets as well as to ensure the appropriate use of those assets for maximum benefit to the public. In essence, these assets are a form of 'knowledge capital' that Columbia brings to the marketplace to leverage the development of new enterprises and new commercial activity."

Crow said the restructuring has been necessitated by the success of the greatly increased flow of inventions and commercialization opportunities through Columbia's science and engineering laboratories and by digital knowledge content development. The new structure provides for adaptability as additional opportunities occur.

Crow stated that Columbia, already the leading university nationwide in licensing income with $143.6 million received in revenues this year, expects to realize a significant additional revenue stream from scientific innovations and knowledge creation projects conveyed to industry either as a licensee or as the catalyst for new company start-ups.

"The dollars derived from Columbia's ownership stake in start-up companies, as well as the royalty and license streams from Columbia's intellectual property, will provide increasing financial returns to be reinvested by the University and its faculty," said Crow.

Science and Technology Ventures

Michael J. Cleare continues as the executive director of Science and Technology Ventures (STV). Through increased recovery of scientific and technological innovations from Columbia's science and engineering laboratories, Science and Technology Ventures expects to increase patents to 125 a year. With the goal of acquiring equity stakes for Columbia in 75 to 100 new science-based companies before 2005, Science and Technology Ventures is expected to realize $150 million in licensing income for the next fiscal year. According to Crow, it is expected that income from one or two of the new companies alone would return in excess of $100 million to Columbia.

Digital Knowledge Ventures

Digital Knowledge Ventures (DKV), G. Todd Hardy, executive director, is the University's bridge to the new digital economy with projected revenues in the $5 to $10 million range for the first two or three years, rising to $40 million within five years. In addition to developing online resources, DKV will be responsible for incubating stand-alone commercial entities that rely on the University's intellectual property. Fathom.com is the first company incubated.

"Columbia is strategically well positioned to be a first mover among elite research universities in the new digital economy," said Crow. "But first, we must stimulate innovation and adaptation of 21st century digital technology by our core asset, the faculty."

Columbia has already taken a major step in this direction as the leader of Fathom.com--the consortium of the world's leading educational and cultural institutions that is providing high-quality digital media content on the Internet in the form of lectures, articles, exhibits, collections, performances and specialty Web sites. Columbia's partners include the London School of Economics and Political Science, Cambridge University Press, the Universities of Michigan and Chicago, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the American Film Institute, RAND, the Natural History Museum, the British Library and the New York Public Library.

Other start-ups and initiatives in the Columbia digital media portfolio include UNEXT.com, which delivers MBA-type materials to corporations and individuals, and Columbia Interactive, which provides e-courses and knowledge content.

With more than 7,000 active scientific research projects totaling $400 million in more than 90 distinct fields, Columbia is one of a handful of comprehensive "knowledge creation" organizations in the world. The current portfolio includes more than two dozen companies spun off from research by Columbia associates, including Bell Geospace Inc., which provides survey data for oil and gas exploration; Memory Pharmaceuticals Corp., involved in the development of drugs to treat memory-related disorders, and Remote Reality, which provides omni-directional cameras for Internet, video conferencing, security and surveillance and entertainment.

Hardy came to Columbia after working in the telecommunications industry for more than 20 years, first as General Counsel to Group W Cable/Westinghouse and most recently as the founder of LAWYERStv, a satellite and Web-based continuing legal education service.

Cleare had a 30-year career with Johnson Matthey, a world leader in advanced materials technology headquartered in the United Kingdom. After a period in R&D, culminating as World Wide Technology director, he moved to the United States and served for 10 years as president of several major divisions simultaneously, including Pharmaceuticals Materials, Materials Technology, Catalytic Systems and Electronic Materials.