The University of Arizona reported more inventions in fiscal year 2025 than ever before, making this its most inventive year for the second year in a row, according to Tech Launch Arizona, the university office that commercializes inventions stemming from university research and innovation. This past year saw the U of A community generate 324 invention disclosures, up from the 2024 record of 307.

"We measure the university's inventiveness and engagement by invention disclosures," said Doug Hockstad, associate vice president of Tech Launch Arizona. "Each time an employee – whether they're a faculty member, researcher, graduate student or other staff member – comes to our team with an invention, they fill out a simple form, and that's when the commercialization process begins."

TLA researches the patent and market landscape of each innovation, protects the intellectual property, markets inventions to potential licensees, and works to either license them to existing companies or launch startups to bring them forward into the marketplace. 

Along with a record level of invention disclosures, TLA also had 94 patents issued and executed 86 licenses and options. Those licenses generate royalties that come back to the university each time a licensee sells a product. In fiscal year 2025, U of A inventions generated $12.1 million in royalties and other income, including from the acquisition of U of A startup Neuro-ID by the global credit firm Experian. 

"Transforming research into societal benefit requires more than great ideas, it demands trusted partnerships and a shared commitment to progress," said Tomás Díaz de la Rubia, senior vice president for research and partnerships. "Arizona's momentum reflects a deep collaboration across the university and with external partners who help bring discoveries to life in ways that strengthen communities, fuel economic vitality and create lasting public value."

A venue for launching student ventures

Also in 2025, TLA organized Startup Wildcats to support students who wanted to experience hands-on entrepreneurship and launch their own startups. Led by director Derick Maggard, Startup Wildcats worked with more than 80 student-led ventures from across campus and awarded over $20,000 in milestone funding to advance ideas ranging from aquaponics technologies and wellness spaces to health care solutions driven by artificial intelligence. 

"It just made sense," Maggard said. "With TLA being the center for expertise and resources to help faculty launch startups, it was the perfect place and time to advance programs to help undergraduates cultivate their entrepreneurial aspirations, as well." 

Looking ahead, TLA is shifting its focus on student entrepreneurship to support technology-driven ventures that align with the university's strategic research strengths. Working with graduate students to translate university intellectual property into market-ready startups, the aim will be to continue generating ventures that create jobs, drive economic growth and strengthen Arizona's innovation economy.

"Startup Wildcats demonstrated the power of student-driven entrepreneurship to energize our campus and spark new ideas," Díaz de la Rubia said. "Building on that success, we're now uniting TLA's undergraduate initiatives with broader campus programs to focus more intentionally on engaging students in deep tech ventures grounded in university discoveries."

13 startups launched

TLA helped launch 13 startups in the past year based on inventions ranging from cancer therapies to solar towers that dry food waste.

"When new companies are founded to bring inventions to market, not only do new technologies find a path to market, but also these new companies create jobs and economic impact for our community and our state," Hockstad said.

TLA-supported startups from fiscal year 2025:

• Rebuild After Stroke provides educational content and practical assistance to empower stroke survivors in recovery, developed by Kristian Doyle, professor in the College of Medicine – Tucson and the BIO5 Institute.

• Lifespan Digital Health helps address physician shortages by preventing health care provider burnout, based on the research of Dr. Samuel Keim, professor in the College of Medicine – Tucson.

• Aging Health Sciences, a research-driven health supplement company specializing in eye health, brings to market nutraceuticals developed by ophthalmologist Dr. Robert Snyder and Brian McKay, professor in the College of Medicine – Tucson. 

• DBXL provides educational materials that build finance, data analytics and critical thinking skills, developed by David Brown, associate professor in the the Eller College of Management. 

• ProxyBio, Inc. helps pharmaceutical companies and physicians identify the most effective therapies through an innovative, high-volume compound screening platform, invented in the College of Medicine – Tucson and the BIO5 Institute by assistant research professor Kelvin Pond, associate professor Curtis Thorne, associate professor Samuel Campos and Elaheh Alizadeh, a former postdoctoral research associate.

• Voices Unheard is a startup formed to market and distribute a documentary film made in the College of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences about groundwater pollution by filmmaker and entrepreneur Sandra Westdahl, who earned her Bachelor of Art from the U of A's School of Journalism.  

• Branch Therapeutics, Inc. advances therapies based on multi-targeted kinase inhibitors to address metastatic cancer, based on innovations developed at the College of Medicine – Tucson and the College of Science by professor Christopher Hulme, associate professor Curtis Thorne, and several external partners who are former U of A students and researchers.

• Aspiro Therapeutics, Inc. advances disease-modifying therapies that target the underlying mechanisms of conditions like asthma and COPD, developed in the College of Medicine – Tucson and the BIO5 Institute by associate professor Julie Ledford, associate professor Michael D. L. Johnson, associate research professor Josef Vagner, and professor Dr. Stefano Guerra. 

• Senphonix, Inc. brings to market wearable technologies that capture high-fidelity physiological data for an uninterrupted, automated view of patient health, developed in the College of Engineering and the BIO5 Institute by associate professor Philipp Gutruf; Tucker Stewart, a senior research and development engineer with medical device company CVRx who earned his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the U of A in 2023; and Kevin Kasper, a doctoral candidate in biomedical engineering.

• iMagine Design harnesses diagnostic intelligence to allow clinicians to correlate symptoms with changes in mobility to help care providers make treatment and intervention decisions, leveraging technologies invented by professor Janet Roveda and associate professor Kavan Hazeli of the College of Engineering and the BIO5 Institute, with UCLA Professor Emeritus Bahram Jalali, U of A global professor Xuejing Wang, and Hill's Nutrition Associate Scientist Rylie Watson, a former U of A graduate research assistant. 

• Kuairu advances a design for a solar tower for large-scale drying of food waste, invented by professor Goggy Davidowitz in CALES. 

• Respiradigm advances a new risk assessment test for asthma development at birth, developed by Regents Professor Dr. Fernando Martinez and professor Dean Billheimer, both with the College of Medicine – Tucson and the BIO5 Institute. 

• VerdiTx develops technologies to harness green light as a therapy for managing pain, invented by Dr. Mohab Ibrahim, professor of anesthesiology, and University of Florida professor Rajesh Khanna, formerly with the U of A. 

Seed fund helps advance early-stage startups 

Startups are most vulnerable to failure in their early months and years, the period of time known as the "valley of death," when young companies often lack the capital to stay afloat. 

To help these early-stage startups, TLA launched the Wildcat Philanthropic Seed Fund in 2024. Unlike a traditional investment fund, the Wildcat Philanthropic Seed Fund is funded through philanthropy, and earnings from mergers or acquisitions are reinvested back into the fund, creating an evergreen source for U of A-affiliated startups.

"It's truly exciting to see the whole of the commercialization pipeline functioning so strongly," said Hockstad. "From the pace of invention disclosures to the launch and success of our startup pipeline to those companies starting to reap the benefits of the Seed Fund, we're in a time of growth both here at the U of A and throughout the ecosystem."

Look for all of the results and biggest stories of fiscal year 2025 to be released in TLA's upcoming annual report, to be released this fall.