I am privileged to report that WARF’s Technology Commercialization team has signed our first AP commercial license of fiscal year 2019 with Resonance Health, an Australian health care company. With this license, Resonance Health becomes the third commercial licensee for the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology developed by PI Scott Reeder and assistant professor Diego Hernando that enables non-invasive measurement of iron in the liver. We are excited to see Scott and Diego’s technology being implemented by an international leader in the non-invasive medical imaging software and services market. In addition to this new commercial license agreement, we currently have three AP-supported technologies under active negotiation with prospective commercial partners and a good number of early stage and exploratory discussions under way related to potential startup companies for AP innovations.
In October, we held our first annual Innovation Day featuring quick pitches from six AP projects, the WARF Innovation Awards and a keynote speech from futurist Byron Reese, author of “The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity.” More than 300 people attended the event, including students, faculty, administrators, investors and industry representatives from inside and outside the state of Wisconsin. The six AP projects that were showcased received mentoring on their pitches from gBeta, a pre-accelerator program run by nationally ranked, Madison-based startup accelerator gener8tor. You can find the AP project pitches on our website. This event generated valuable exposure for the WARF Accelerator Program and AP projects, as it also provided a venue for many new conversations and connections within the larger entrepreneurial community. I especially want to recognize Greg Keenan and Lori Allen, our AP management team, who conceived and drove the implementation of Innovation Day.
We also sincerely thank the AP project teams, Catalysts, WARF Communications and Programming staff, gBeta and those of you who participated in the event for making it a great success. Planning has already started for the next WARF Innovation Day event, to be held in connection with the Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium in November.
Finally, please mark your calendars for the next WARF Accelerator All-Hands meeting scheduled for April 25, 2019. We look forward to seeing all of you this spring!