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Why Innovation Matters

Message from the Vice President for Research

One of the biggest understatements in scientific history appeared in a 1953 paper by James Watson and Francis Crick. In presenting their research on the DNA double helix, they wrote, 鈥淭his structure has novel features which are of considerable biological interest.鈥�

Their 鈥渃onsiderable鈥� finding was actually an incredible revelation that led to a better understanding of how organisms pass on their genes and of genome sequencing, as well as other scientific milestones. More than half a century later, discoveries are still emerging from this seminal biological breakthrough.

Such innovation improves our quality of life and fuels economic development, and we need more of it. As marketplaces for ideas, universities provide fertile ground for the creative process that produces new knowledge. The polio vaccine, rocket fuel, MRI technology, seat belts, and numerous other world-changing inventions stemmed from university research.

At UT Arlington, we relish our role as a beacon of innovation. We promote academic freedom and foster an environment that rewards curiosity and challenges conventional thought. We understand that the next major discoveries will come only when people are encouraged to dream big and think differently.

Remember The Six Million Dollar Man TV show where a crippled test pilot is rebuilt with bionic limbs and implants? It鈥檚 not far from reality today. A team of UT Arlington bioengineering researchers is developing technology that will enable soldiers who鈥檝e lost arms or legs to feel and control their prosthetic limbs as if they鈥檙e real.

Another University breakthrough could revolutionize the medical diagnostics field. The technology will allow you to walk into a doctor鈥檚 office and, with a simple finger prick, get a reading in 10 minutes on what ails you or what might soon ail you. Optical sensors will accurately monitor biochemical reactions in real time with no need for chemical tags.

The company developing this process, Resonant Sensors Inc., receives assistance from the Center for Innovation, a partnership between UT Arlington and the Arlington Chamber of Commerce that furthers technology-led economic development. The center moves ideas from concept to market across an eight-state region.

Founded using intellectual property licensed through UT Arlington, Resonant Sensors is a classic example of the innovation process. Researchers use fundamental knowledge to develop applied technology that leads to products for the marketplace. UT Arlington provides all the tools for scholars to complete this cycle of vertical integration.

Each year we average 65鈥�70 invention disclosures (the first step in protecting an invention with a patent). We typically file 20 patents a year and receive about eight. Once a patent is issued, the technology can be licensed for commercialization. We recently announced a licensing agreement with a Fort Worth company for a portable converter that turns natural gas into jet fuel and diesel. Several other agreements are in the聽works.

As we progress through the cycle of how to creatively use fundamental knowledge, we also must focus on teaching and training the next generation of thinkers and innovators. If we teach only from a textbook, the book will never change. What we teach must evolve as we create, and we must keep feeding the cycle of knowledge to produce a better-educated society.

Several decades ago, the Dick Tracy comic strip introduced a two-way wrist radio that Tracy and other police officers wore like a watch. This make-believe communications device became a widely recognized icon and is often considered a precursor to today鈥檚 smartphones. For this invention to morph from fantasy to reality, somebody had to make the technology small, lightweight, and power efficient. Somebody had to think creatively and without limits.

It鈥檚 that type of thinking that will lead to the next generation of inventions, to life-changing technologies that seem like science fiction today. We鈥檙e learning more and more about nerve and tissue regeneration and can now regrow tissue in a dish and implant it in the body. Why not regrow a heart, a lung, or an eye? It鈥檚 possible, but it takes dedication, creativity, discovery, and learning鈥攁ll tied together.

At UT Arlington, we believe it鈥檚 our obligation to create new knowledge through research and shape minds to develop tomorrow鈥檚 innovations. We do it to change lives, enhance lives, and save lives now and for generations to聽come.

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