-4-
first year of the new program, 14 faculty members received awards with SBIR or STTR grants.
He explained that a Phase One awards are worth $100,000, and the state match is $100,000. Phase Two awards are up to $500,000 each year, and the state's match is $500,000. Several faculty received these awards. He noted that the university has done very well with faculty start-up companies getting these types of awards. Several companies have decided to locate in Kentucky to take advantage of the state matching program.
Dr. Heller showed a slide highlighting press releases about LevTech and Allylix and talked about each business. He reported that LevTech was sold January 11 for $27 million to ATMI, which is a $400 million company. This is a good example of the university's intellectual property starting a business and then selling it to a larger corporation.
Allylix is a company that started at Coldstream and is now in its third round of venture capital. It just raised $3.7 million. The interesting thing about this company is it involves national venture funds including the Tech Coast Angels in California, and the company that manufactures Splenda.
Dr. Heller talked about the university's business development activities. He reported that there are 55 early stage companies in the Bluegrass region. It is important to note that 32 of the companies have UK research behind them. Nearly 40 percent of these companies are high tech or biotech and healthcare. From 2005 to 2007 the number of people hired at these companies has increased to 402 people with 162 people hired this year. This is about 35 percent a year in creating new jobs with new early stage companies in Lexington. The average full time salaries were $60,000.
Dr. Heller called attention to the university's statewide mission and talked about their work throughout the state. He specifically mentioned a company in Falmouth, Kentucky that has 40 employees. It is anticipated that the number of employees for that company will increase to 500 employees. He also mentioned a company in Middlesboro, Kentucky that has 15 employees. Not only does UK promote companies, it also tries to preserve jobs and keep companies alive and viable.
Dr. Heller pointed out that UK is training individuals how to be strong business people in the community. This year 893 veterans, 917 minorities, 86 Hispanics, and 3,077 women have participated in the training sessions.
Dr. Heller pointed out that state funding plays a critical role in seed funding and helps leverage private investments. He displayed a slide showing the impact on 55 early stage companies in the Bluegrass Region. He said that the 2007 source of funds amounts to $64 million and noted that $3 million is in state dollars, $4 million is federal money, but the remainder is strategic partners and private equity.