Introduction

The concept for the Louisiana IP Directory was conceived by a group of Louisiana public and private university technology transfer managers and Louisiana private business concerns meeting over lunch to discuss ways of working together in order to promote Louisiana university technology transfer initiatives in a way that would have a direct impact on economic development. The intent of the group was to find a way to meet regularly (Quarterly) in order to discuss important issues that each university faced, offer “Best Practices” opportunities, and bounce off new innovative ideas in marketing Louisiana university intellectual properties. The group is a loose knit group not officially recognized as a formal association. It is the group’s hope that one day, with proper funding, the group would formally organize as a statewide association similar to AUTM, Association of University Technology Managers.

At one of the meetings, discussion developed over finding ways to promote all Louisiana university’s intellectual property. The discussions led to the idea of creating a website that was a business friendly one stop shop for all Louisiana university intellectual property. Companies seeking new licensing opportunities will find this site a convenient, “one-stop” method to monitor emerging technologies developed throughout the state without the hassle of visiting Louisiana’s 20 individual college and university websites. The individual universities maintain information posted to this site.

This website was developed by a partnership between the State of Louisiana’s universities, the Board of Regents, the Department of Economic Development, and the Louisiana Business & Technology Center with funds provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Experimental Program to Support Competitive Technology (EPSCoT) Program.