As a preeminent research university, the University of South Florida has received over 100 U.S. patents annually since 2016; now, the school seeks to boost area startups and create jobs by enlisting local entrepreneurs to commercialize its intellectual property (IP).
Wednesday’s virtual 1 Million Cups event featured a pitch with a twist. While the weekly event is a platform for local entrepreneurs to present their startups to the St. Petersburg business community, Tom Waters sought entrepreneurs to create and enhance startups using USF’s IP and technological resources.
Waters, assistant director of startups & business development for USF, showcased the university’s innovation center and startup incubator. USF Connect is a facility where startups and established companies can use the university’s resources to further business growth.
“If you need Ph.D. chemists or wet lab space – which they’re very well known for – or if you need slave labor graduate students, or you need high-end computer gear that you can’t afford, but you’d like to rent by the hour, that’s where you can come,” said Waters.
Waters said he is relatively new to the university and served as a mentor for Carnegie Mellon University in Silicon Valley during the height of the pandemic. Before working with Carnegie Mellon, Waters spent seven years with Jabil, the St. Petersburg-based manufacturing solutions provider. Waters said his role with USF is to take the university’s IP into the Tampa Bay region and create new businesses and jobs.
Waters stressed that entrepreneurs from any incubator in the state are welcome to use USF’s patents, copyrights and big data sets. He noted he is currently working with a small startup based in St. Pete’s Maritime Defense and Technology Hub, along with Tonya Elmore, president and CEO of the new Tampa Bay Innovation Center.
