When we think about innovative work at the University of Arizona we might think of tangible things like devices to improve agriculture or medications for cancer or new kinds of lasers or sensors. Since 2013 and the creation of Tech Launch Arizona, or TLA, the UArizona office that commercializes inventions stemming from research, the university has been growing its impact by working with faculty, researchers and staff to identify and develop inventions, and license them to companies. Those companies then make them available to the world as products to improve lives and make the world a better place. TLA also heads up licensing for mobile apps developed at the university, such as the popular science education tool, Chemistry By Design, created by Dr. Jon Njardarson, faculty with the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the BIO5 Institute, which has been downloaded over 150,000 times since it was launched in 2013.
