I-Squared Awards

By Tom Leyde

The top inventors and entrepreneurs dedicated to commercializing University of Arizona inventions in 2021 were honored at Tech Launch Arizona’s eighth annual I-Squared Expo & Awards.

The awards were presented Sept. 28 at the Tech Launch Arizona offices. Five crystal awards − Inventor of the Year, Startup of the Year, Student Innovator of the Year, Campus Collaboration, and Ecosystem Impact Award − were given out at the live event.

Tech Launch Arizona commercializes inventions stemming from research done at UArizona. The team at TLA helps to bring those inventions to the public and assist the innovators to maximize their work for the betterment of the world.

“We are really all about impact,” Betsy Cantwell, senior VP of research and innovation at UArizona, said at the event. “How do we encourage to enhance and allow our faculty to begin to think of themselves as inventors.”

All of that encouragement is working. In FY2021, TLA executed 124 license agreements, launched 17 startups and had 100 patents issued.

This year, UArizona moved up 38 spots from the year before in patent granting, said Douglas Hockstad, assistant TLA VP.

Sadhana Ravishankar, associate professor in the School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was recognized as Inventor of the Year.

Ravishankar developed a natural antimicrobial product that can be used as a universal sanitizer for food surfaces and as a hand sanitizer. She worked with TLA to launch a new company, PhytoCentric Solutions, to commercialize the inventions developed in her lab.

“For a woman entrepreneur to be recognized like this, it makes me feel so empowered, and I hope it serves as a motivation to others,” Ravishankar said.

The award for Startup of the Year went to Botanisol Analytics. It commercialized a laser screener for use in rapidly detecting pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Tom Milster, in the James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences, developed the technology.

The Student Innovator of the Year was Sahand Sabet, a doctorate candidate in the College of Engineering. He and his teammates are working to develop a new generation of robots that can both roll and fly for extended periods of time.

The Campus Collaboration Award went to Mark Van Dyke. The award honors a person or entity at UArizona whose contributions to commercialization have demonstrated great impact over the past years.

Van Dyke, an associate dean for research in the College of Engineering, has partnered with TLA to expand innovation and entrepreneurship among faculty, researchers and staff.

Eric Smith and the University of Arizona Center for Innovation received the Ecosystem Impact Award. The award honors a person or entity outside the university whose contributions have generated maximum success for UArizona inventions and startups.

Smith is the Center for Innovation’s executive director. The center services scalable science and technology companies from both within the university and other sectors of the community, including those outside the United States. Sadhana Ravishankar Associate professor in the School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences

Zachary Brooks Director of Business Development Botanisol Analytics

Sahand Sabet Doctoral candidate in the College of Engineering

Mark Van Dyke Associate dean for research at the UArizona College of Engineering

Eric Smith Executive director of the University of Arizona Center for Innovation