TECH Fort Worth, UNTHSC secure first tenant
College Station-based CorInnova Inc., an early-stage medical device company founded in 2004, will open a satellite office and laboratory on the third floor of the Center for BioHealth on the UNTHSC campus.
“CorInnova is the perfect first tenant for us,” said Darlene Ryan, interim president of TFW. “They’re an example of what is happening between UNT and TECH Fort Worth and the very reason we’re here. The sole purpose of TFW is to collaborate and bring together UNT and the business community.”
CorInnova, the entrepreneurial high-tech company, is developing and commercializing heart-assist technologies that will lead to heart recovery, rather than replacement. The company nabbed one of the stateÂ’s emerging technology grant awards last summer. The start-up received $500,000 toward continuing research and development of its Heart Therapy Device, a life-saving technology that its inventor and company president, Dr. John Criscione, hopes will be able to reduce, by 60 percent or more, the onset of congestive heart failure in patients who have suffered a severe heart attack. The company will build prototypes of the device from its new Fort Worth lab.
TECH Fort Worth, a nonprofit effort formed two years ago among the city, UNTHSC and local businesses, provides mentoring, networking and business-assistance services with a focus on helping obtain funding for entrepreneurs who are building technology-based businesses. Headquartered in the James E. Guinn School building near downtown Fort Worth, TFW operates from its own offices in the Center for BioHealth. According to Ryan, plans are in the works to construct six more commercial-grade laboratories and office spaces on the buildingÂ’s second floor to accommodate more life sciences entrepreneurs by late next summer.
“This is a partnership we’ve been crafting for almost two years now,” said Robert D. McClain, associate vice president of technology transfer and commercialization for UNTHSC. “CorInnova is our first big tangible result. We’re excited to have them here – not only because they were one of the first to win funding from the TETF, but because they’re going to be a great asset for us and will be able to foster the whole business community.”
McClain said that research production at the institution is at a record high, and that this initial leasing of a technology-centered business through TFW fits solidly within the long-range vision the school is currently reviewing. The UNT System contracted with the master planning team of Carter & Burgess/Polshek Partnership Architects in August to begin work on a 15-year, four-phase campus master plan.
“We’re the fastest-growing health science center in Texas,” McClain said. “Our plans for further growth are exciting and the growth in research is phenomenal. We’ve found the perfect partnership with TECH Fort Worth, and with the addition of CorInnova, we may be able to create some of our companies as a spinoff.”
Ryan stressed that TFW doesnÂ’t help nurture home-grown companies only, but works with national and international small business owners to help them meet their development needs, as well.
“We believe that the relationship between TECH Fort Worth and the UNTHSC is a unique one,” Ryan said. “And, as you can tell, [we are] very excited to be in the jobs we are at this particular place and time.”
Contact Dillard at bdillard@bizpress.net
