Today I have the great honour of participating in a unique celebration in the technology transfer space: the 40th anniversary of the KU Leuven Research & Development (LRD for short). LRD is the tech transfer office for KU Leuven which is located just a short train ride outside of Brussels.
In 1972 LRD was established for the purpose of commercializing the research conducted at KU Leuven, a University that is more than 600 years old. In these first 40 years LRD has done much to advance technology transfer, increase and support entrepreneurship and to facilitate knowledge transfer. One metric in this regard stands out for me, over the past seven years LRD established spin offs have raised more than 500,000,000 Euros in financing (thats half a billion and that is pretty impressive).
I want to congratulate AUTM member Paul Van Dun, General Manager of LRD and his entire team as they celebrate this milestone and kick off the next 40 years of leadership and success.