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Utek Makes Acquisition

Utek Corp. (AMEX: UTK), a Plant-city based company that specializes in discovering marketable university-developed technology and then acquiring it, said it will acquire theTechEx.com Web site through a stock exchange transaction the value of which was not disclosed. Utek wants the assets of a TechEx.com, a subsidiary of Intellectual Property Exchange Inc., an Internet exchange for the marketing of biomedical technology devel-oped at universities and medical research organizations.

Technology transfer profes-sionals use the TechEx.com site to exchange new technology discoveries and licensing information, according to Utek officials. Clifford M. Gross, Utek's chairman and chief executive, called the transac-tion ³an excellent opportunity.² Gross and cofounder Uwe Reischl, started the company in 1998. Reischl is president.

The company's business plan is based on the fact that many discoveries go unlicensed. Last year, North Amer-ican universities spent almost $26.8 billion on research that resulted in 12,000 new inven-tion disclosures, many of which remain unlicensed, according to the Association of University Technology Managers.

Utek's chief business is acquiring exclusive licenses for new discoveries, then fund-ing further development. It then transfers, or licenses, tech-nology manufacture to companies that have the ability to translate technology into marketable products. Among the newest ideas it has developed is a new test for potential detection of colon, testicular and ovarian cancers.

Computer Networking in Lakeland
In Polk County, Josh Hallett, president of Lakeland-based CDN Partners Inc., says his company is in Polk County because very few of CDN's competitors are there. A computer network support firm, the company serves manufacturers, distributors and other companies in areas that Tampa and Orlando based competitors would rather avoid, due to travel time. As a result, CDN has picked up several statewide accounts, based on its performance in towns like Lakeland.

Hallett adds one engineer to the 24-employee firm's pay-roll each month. He says Polk's centralized position helps the company serve statewide customers. Using the newly finished Polk Parkway, employees can be in Tampa in 25 minutes or Orlando in 45. Local development experts say Polk County's position in the center of the state smack between two significant economic engines provides the county with strong allure.

Document File Management
Winter Haven based DocuLex Inc. says it has partnered with Ricoh Silicon Valley Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., to offer a digital way to capture docu-ments, index or archive them, and retrieve them easily. The product is called PDF Capture eCabinet. It makes it possible for companies to scan traditional paper documents, secure them in digital format and then get them back when needed using a computer. It stores text as well as images. The company named it after a regular file cabinet (eCabi-net) because the software converts a computer into a file cabinet.

The same radio technology that is used by the Israeli Air Force for in-flight fueling, has been adapted to track fueling of car and truck fleets.

Smart Fuel
A Clearwater company, SCI International, allows the managers of fleets of cars and trucks to control mistakes, waster and fraud, at company fuel pumps. The product called SmartFuel employs a tiny radio signal transmitter that is fastened to a vehicle's gas tank and fuel pump to make sure that fuel will flow only when the correct fuel nozzle is inserted into the correct tank for the correct driver. The SmartFuel system is controlled by a wireless radio fre-quency modem connected to the fleet manager's office computer. It can be installed on electronic or older mechan-ical fuel pumps, the company says.

The company says the technology evolved from radio technology developed by the Israeli Air Force to control fuel flow during in-flight refueling of aircraft. See www.sciww.com

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