EUGENE, Ore. -- (Jan. 23, 2009) -- There is a theory that tucked away
on the shelves of the nation's universities are the technologies of
tomorrow. These are the ideas and research for new products, but they
lack the funding and engagement with industry needed to get them into
mainstream use.

Andrew
Nelson, a professor of management in University of Oregon's Lundquist
College of Business, hopes to get a better understanding of the
technologies created at universities that have been produced on a
commercial level. He has been awarded the Junior Faculty Fellowship in
Entrepreneurship Research by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation,
based in Kansas City, Mo. The UO will receive $50,000 over the next two
years to support Nelson's research on technology development in the
digital audio sector. The fellowships were presented on Jan. 3 at the
Allied Social Science Associations' annual meeting in San Francisco.

"How do we get university technology into the 'real world,'" said
Nelson, who plans to study commercial digital audio products, including
how the knowledge came about and how it was used, patented and
distributed. "Stanford University holds one of the most successfully
licensed university technologies, and it was created in the music
department. While we've focused considerable attention on medicine and
engineering, we need to engage a broader range of disciplines in
discussions about university-industry interactions."

Nelson, who started at the UO in August, is among the five chosen to
receive the new Junior Faculty Fellowship, which is awarded to junior
faculty who are beginning to establish a record of scholarship and
exhibit the potential to make significant contributions to the body of
research in the field of entrepreneurship. It is awarded to tenure
track faculty members who received a doctorate after Sept. 1, 2002.

"This program will help launch a cohort of world-class faculty, thus
laying the foundation for future scientific advancement," said Robert
J. Strom, director of Entrepreneurship Research & Policy at the
Kauffman Foundation. "The research produced by these fine scholars will
be translated into knowledge with application for policymakers,
educators, service providers and entrepreneurs."

Nelson's research will focus on the digital audio sector, because it is a relatively new and small industry.

"During my research, I will trace every invention in the digital audio
area, which started in the 1970s based on both university and firm
research. Who came up with what and when? How is it shared? Who is
using it?" Nelson said. "Current measures for tracking new technologies
and their applications are poor. By focusing on a narrow group, we will
be able capture that entire industry, figure out who the players are,
how they interact and what it takes to facilitate commercialization of
university technologies."

Other 2009 Junior Faculty Fellowship recipients are Aaron K. Chatterji,
Duke University; Gerson Dushnitsky, University of Pennsylvania; Jon
Eckhardt, University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Waverly W. Ding,
University of California, Berkeley.

Source: Andrew Nelson, professor of management, 541-346-1569, ajnelson@uoregon.edu

Links: Charles H. Lundquist College of Business, http://lcb.uoregon.edu/; Kauffman Foundation, www.kauffman.org

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