About Intellectual Resources Management (IRM)
IRM Mission
The mission of Intellectual Resources Management (IRM) is to manage Creighton University's intellectual assets and resources to benefit the University, businesses and the community.
What We Do
The primary focus of IRM is to protect Creighton University's academic discoveries and intellectual property, and to promote their transfer into the marketplace. IRM also strives to build strong, collaborative relationships with the business community, in order to strengthen Creighton University and to promote economic growth and development in our region and elsewhere in the world.
Technology Transfer
We receive invention disclosures from faculty, staff, students and others, and we assess their commercial viability. If applicable, we license them to the business community. Cash royalties collected by IRM help fund the departments and schools from which the academic discoveries originated, and certain percentages go to the inventors themselves. In addition to licensing activities, we also handle copyrights, trademark licensing, and material transfer agreements. Additionally, we facilitate the formation of startups based on university technologies.
Business Services
We continue to build our relationships with the business community largely through our licensing agreements and intellectual property management programs for businesses. We also are developing strong links to business through our other services, which include: facilitating management consulting and the provision of faculty expertise in medicine, business and law; supporting entrepreneurs through special programs; linking businesses with executive education and professional development opportunities; and providing information and assistance with student internships and graduate hiring information.
Who We Are
Intellectual Resources Management
Creighton University
2500 California Plaza
Campion House, Suite 3
Omaha, Nebraska 68178
Lee I. Fenicle
Director
Phone: 402-280-3652
Cell: 402-598-4992
Fax: 402-280-3223
E-mail: lfenicle@creighton.edu
Mary Ann Wendland
Associate Director
Phone: 402-280-3653
Cell: 402-201-5967
Fax: 402-280-3223
E-mail: wendland@creighton.edu
Darlene Golden
Operations Specialist
Phone: 402-280-3651
Fax: 402-280-3223
E-mail: dgolden@creighton.edu
IRM Successes
Since its inception more than a decade ago, Intellectual Resources Management (IRM) has achieved numerous accomplishments. Following are some points of interest:
- In the 2006-2007 fiscal year ending June 30, the Office executed five licenses, received 17 invention disclosures, initiated 12 new patent applications, and received one patent.
- Licensing revenue totaled nearly $353,000, a 31 percent increase from the previous year.
- The School of Medicine accounts for about 90 percent of IRM's business.
- Some of the exciting discoveries IRM is currently working on include:
- A novel variant of a human estrogen receptor that shows promise in the treatment of breast cancer
- A genetic mutation that causes high bone mass
- Several discoveries that would aid in the identification of drug-resistant bacteria
- A method to restore hearing in many who have suffered hearing loss
- Endoscopic surgery tools that will greatly expand the uses for incisionless surgery