There is a potential to create more than 5,000 jobs in coming years through the new entities, says Brian Cummings, director of the school's Technology Commercialization Office, which helps university inventors start companies.

"There were about 5,000 new jobs in 2005" because of new technology-based companies, "and new inventions are up about 20 percent since then," he said.

Cummings said he expects the U. to be ranked as one of the top two business-producing universities by the Association of University Technology Managers, a national organization that helps manage and license inventions created from academic and nonprofit research. The schools that have topped the organization's list in the past include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology and the University of California System.

The national average for businesses developed at major research institutions was only four in 2006, compared with the 17 at the University of Utah.

One company, State-of-RT, is a computer graphics company, which was started through a research project. Technology from professors Steven Parker and Peter Shirley was originally created to produce scientific visualizations, or "making pictures out of large amounts of data," part of a larger project that studied fire and explosions from accidents.

"It started as a side project and eventually [became] more useful for the research we were doing," he said. Parker added that in the past three or four years, researchers noticed that the project had commercial applications as well.

They formed State-of-RT, which is still in its formative stages but plans to start by the end of the year marketing its technology, which creates graphics for video games, photorealistic advertising and design purposes.

Creating businesses from university technology is one of the most difficult forms of entrepreneurship because the products are new, said Nicole Toomey Davis, the director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development's Centers of Excellence Program.

"It's a very challenging business proposition because there's no established marketplace for it," she said.

The state-funded program helps researchers obtain government funding to create businesses out of their inventions, and is a resource that Parker has found valuable. "They helped turn it from a research project into something that can be commercially viable," he said.

Cummings credits the U.'s success to a "collaborative environment."

"A lot of people do interdisciplinary research, much more than other universities," he said.

Doug Turnquist, president and CEO of ThermImage Inc., knows firsthand about collaboration. His company is based on a technology that allows doctors to diagnose Vesicoureteral Reflux, a condition in children associated with urinary tract infections that previously required an invasive and painful method to diagnose. Turnquist met Brent Snow, the technology's inventor, while the two were in business school. Each wrote master's theses on Snow's invention - Turnquist about the business aspects, and Snow on the medical and technological sides.

Snow patented the technology in the late 1990s and it was recently licensed.

"We're still in the development stages of the business," Turnquist said, adding that the company is awaiting FDA approval, a process that could take a couple of years.

State-of-RT's Parker said his company also has undergone a lengthy process to turn his research into a business. His project started more than 10 years ago, and he hopes to have a product available by the end of 2007.

"This is by far one of the most entrepreneurial groups of faculty and researchers," Cummings said of the inventors at the U.

For its part, the university receives licensing royalties, which in 2006 totaled $17.5 million, he said.

"A lot of these companies are new, though, so we won't see that number right away."

blange@sltrib.com

* Boulder Technology Development Labs uses an invention focused on exercise physiology and training.

* Rescue Medical Systems Inc. will offer a CPR training device for the mass market.

* ThermImage has a system designed to detect pediatric kidney infections that eliminates the need for painful catheters.

* Osteoseek Inc. is developing drug-delivery systems targeted at bones.

* Larada Inc. is working on a nonchemical application to kill head lice using a combination of heat and air flow.

* ImageTechnologies Inc. is working on a method to detect carotenoid levels in the eye that may relate to the development of a host of ophthalmic diseases.

* Central Logic Inc. is a software development company that is building a database to track medical records and scheduling at hospitals.

* LV Partners is creating an investment fund to support research.

* PowerMems is commercializing technology developed by scientists at the U. and other institutions that is focused on improving the power of thin film batteries.

* ContraDyn Inc. was formed to commercialize a minimally invasive technology for image-guided cancer treatment.

* Angry Duck Productions is marketing animation, graphics and video technology developed at the College of Fine Arts at the U., and is training and educating students in the School of Arts and Technology.

* Cerebus Carbon Solutions LLC is focused on carbon-dioxide-capture technologies that can be used to reduce the gas in the environment.

* UGEN is marketing a breast cancer diagnostic method designed to match patients with appropriate drug treatments.

* Navigen is focusing on the use of molecular genetic techniques to identify genes that predispose patients to retinal diseases.

* BioFuels Development Corp. is working on clean-burning fuels.

* State-of-RT is a graphic design company that creates designs from large data sets. The company creates applications for video games, photorealistic advertising and design.

* N-Focus will offer a silicon-based micro-camera for use in cell phones and digital cameras.