President Mark Foster greeted the Rotarians who filled the Anderson room, and the 20 Rotarians on zoom. He introduced red bow-tied pianist Tom Strode who played God Bless America as we sang along. Norma Sarkar inspired us through a historical illustration (solving large-scale printing press issues with a unique cooling system that became modern-day air conditioning) that innovation often slips in through unexpected doors. Duquette asked Rotarians to look on the bright side, even as raindrops fall by singing Singin’ in the Rain. Extra special credit goes to innovative pianist Strode who magically wove Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head into the intro to our song.
Rotary Orchestra: Tom Strode
President Mark welcomed us all to the meeting, thanked the set up team, and welcomed guests. Birthday greetings were applauded and a special shout out went to Jody Tull de Salis on her 30th anniversary as a Rotarian.
President Mark got us in the mood for Saturday’s upcoming UM v MSU football game with three groaners including why MSU was in mourning for the fire in their library? Because they lost their coloring books.
Norma Sarkar returned to the podium to remind us to Sock It to Polio next Rotary meeting by wearing our craziest socks. The winner will not only be drawing attention to World Polio Day (Oct. 24) and to the fact that there are still nine active polio cases in the world compared to 28 last year at this time, but will win a special prize. Sarkar then shared that it is time for Rotarians to become Polio Plus Society Members. To be part of this important Society, members give $100 (or their chosen amount) annually until polio is eradicated. Those gifts are matched by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation 2:1. Anne Nauts, District 6380 Foundation Board and Polio Plus Co-Chair 2022/2025 anne@annenauts.com , and Rosemarie Rowney are our contacts for questions. You may also go to the Ann Arbor Rotary website to make your important gift.
Rob Shiff came to the podium to invite our club members and our friends to Help Send Hunger Packing. This two-hour event needs 50 more volunteers to help assemble nutritious food pouches that will be used in worldwide disaster relief efforts as well as for food pantries. Come Saturday, Oct. 28 to Pioneer High School from 9-11 a.m. The event also needs cash donations to meet its $10,500 goal.
Shiff also updated the club that the hybrid format will continue, thanks to a board decision, through the end of this calendar year. He reported that other organizations are facing similar challenges in continuing hybrid meetings. The challenges are not only financial (it costs our club $800-$1000/month) but is a drain on the few who volunteer. Please increase our circle of volunteers to help provide zoom support, and please consider a financial gift to the club’s operations to continue making hybrid meetings possible.
President Mark alerted the club that starting in January 2024, Rotarians will be paying for lunch with a credit or debit card. Cash will no longer be accepted by the Union.
Please take your volunteer responsibility seriously. Please sign up to help with the meeting set up. If you cannot fulfil your assignment, please guarantee that your substitute is confirmed. Without those confirmations, tasks may fall through the cracks and make a less-than-successful meeting. Help pitch in to lighten the load and volunteer and to make our meetings run just that much better.
Foster also reminded members to complete the 2023 All-Member survey. It is due by the end of this month. It came to you via email, so check your spam filter as well as your mailbox and complete it. Thank you!
Dallas Dort introduced speaker Chris Fick, Director of Corporate Research Alliances of the Innovation Partnerships of the
Chris Fick
University of Michigan, to speak on “Research Commercialization at the University of Michigan.” Standout innovations include breakthroughs in mobility, cybersecurity, bladeless lasik, FluMist vaccine, and noninvasive sonic surgery. Fick noted that “It’s our job to make sure that every research discovery has an opportunity to change the world.” The National Science Foundation has stated that the UM is one of the nation’s largest public research universities. This office (formerly called Tech Transfers, rebranded because “transfer” connoted “transactional” and the new name reflects broader services) boasts 41 startup companies launched in the past two years, and in 2023 will have generated $1.8 billion in research expenditures. Because of the experience of this office, new inventions from faculty ideas move into the marketplace faster than if they had been done solely by the faculty – or by a corporation – independently.
Fick noted that there are three teams in this office – Alliances, Licensing, and Ventures – and there are fluidity and intercommunication among them all. Fick reported that with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, they support “bridge” funding between the initial university research discovery and the final commercialization licensing and launching. There is a team of specialized mentors who help in this process as well. The return on investment of this initial $10M in programmatic support has generated 175 startups, more than 850 jobs and $1.5B venture capital and angel support.
In addition, there is an Accelerated Blue Fund of $15M for early-stage UM startups. For every $1 in ABF, it generates $36 in additional investment capital.
The Rotarian audience was attentive to hear Fick note that in FY 2023, the UM Commercialization Activity spawned 580 inventions (surpassing 433 in 2022), 25 new start ups (compared to 16 in 2022), $22.9M in licensing revenue (compared to $20.4 in 2022) and $787M raised by the startups (compared to $759M in 2022). Notable startups include May Mobility seen throughout Ann Arbor, Blue Conduit, and Histosonics (which just received FDA approval this month for the destruction of tumors via ultrasound).
The audience gave a warm round of applause in appreciation of Mr. Fick’s presentation.
President Mark closed the meeting by inviting everyone to stand to recite the 4-way test:
Norma Sarkar returned to the podium to remind us to Sock It to Polio next Rotary meeting by wearing our craziest socks. The winner will not only be drawing attention to World Polio Day (Oct. 24) and to the fact that there are still nine active polio cases in the world compared to 28 last year at this time, but will win a special prize. Sarkar then shared that it is time for Rotarians to become Polio Plus Society Members. To be part of this important Society, members give $100 (or their chosen amount) annually until polio is eradicated. Those gifts are matched by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation 2:1. Anne Nauts, District 6380 Foundation Board and Polio Plus Co-Chair 2022/2025 anne@annenauts.com , and Rosemarie Rowney are our contacts for questions. You may also go to the Ann Arbor Rotary website to make your important gift.
