Innovation Institute annual numbers

Pitt innovators turned in another strong year of innovation commercialization activity, including the second highest number of patents issued in University history. There were 359 invention disclosures and $25.7 million in licensing revenue from Pitt inventions.

Disclosure form update

Submitting an invention disclosure to the University is about to become an easier.

The Innovation Institute, an operating unit of the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, handles these disclosures, which range from advanced designs for magnet motors that don’t require rare earth metals; a mobile app for tracking cognitive changes in cancer survivors; a tissue stretcher that supports high-resolution imaging of live cells; a serum for treating dry eye disease; and a way to cut blood vessels during endoscopic vein harvesting.

A new portal to handle intellectual property management, licensing and startup company creation includes several changes to make it more efficient and user-friendly. The most significant change is that users will be able to sign in using existing Pitt Passport credentials without having to create a unique username and password.

The new form is available in a single page and allows users to include co-inventors in the form easily with the Microsoft Outlook lookup feature. And attachments to the form, including videos, presentations and other material, can be up to 40 megabytes in size.

The changes went into effect on July 17. Contact the Innovation Institute with questions at innovate@pitt.edu.