New tech center will help bring high-impact ideas to market

By Matthew Chin

A new technology center that will nurture and incubate breakthrough, high-impact ideas to create new industrial products will open next month on Wilshire Boulevard near campus, officials with the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science announced Nov. 9.

Once it opens, the Institute for Technology Advancement will be staffed by a core of business-savvy technology experts who will work closely with UCLA faculty, industrial partners and government agencies to facilitate the development and eventual commercialization of ideas that will offer a great benefit to society.

Start-up funding for the institute comes from a major gift from Henry and Susan Samueli. Henry Samueli is chairman of the board, co-founder and CTO of Broadcom Corporation and a three-time alumnus of the school that bears his name.

“As a public research university, UCLA has a responsibility to make a positive impact on our community and on society,” said Chancellor Gene Block. “ITA at UCLA Engineering will enable the innovative technical discoveries of our faculty to move toward availability more quickly, giving UCLA even greater impact and further reach. We are deeply grateful to the Samuelis once again for their extraordinary generosity on behalf of UCLA.”

The new center will serve several functions, organizers said. It will lead the effort to identify and formulate early-state, highly valued research ideas at UCLA, then develop and move these ideas to industry for economic impact. In addition to nurturing and incubating breakthrough ideas, it will provide a learning platform for faculty and students to engage in transitional technology research. And it will further strengthen and expand relationships with industry in providing technical assistance for near-term applied research projects.

“ITA will be the leading organization that develops connections between advanced breakthroughs from our research labs to industry, with the goal of streamlining the creation of products, processes and services that fill the needs of society,” said Engineering Dean Vijay K. Dhir. “This new institute adds an important component to our mission of education, research and service, and it will help UCLA Engineering remain on the forefront of dynamic, world-changing research.

Engineering faculty, Dhir said, will have better opportunities to see their innovations make a direct impact on society. “Our students will benefit from participating in ITA projects and enhance their skills in multi-disciplinary problem-solving, entrepreneurship, technology management and commercialization of technology.” “In today’s ultra-competitive and dynamic global technology market, it is becoming rare for large companies to invest in ideas that need a lot of time in the development phase before getting to consumers,” said Henry Samueli. “With the establishment of ITA, UCLA Engineering now has the vehicle to get its cutting-edge technology breakthroughs into the development phase and then into market.”

The institute’s director is Derek Cheung, an adjunct professor at UCLA Engineering and the former president of Teledyne Scientific and Imaging LLC. He is also the former president and CEO of Rockwell Scientific Company, LLC, where he spent more than 30 years.

The institute’s deputy director is Leslie M. Lackman, an adjunct professor and the director of industrial relations for UCLA Engineering. He was a former vice president and site manager for the Boeing Company before he retired and joined UCLA.