In May of 2007, Businessweek ran an article entitled "MIT, Caltech And the Gators?" The piece was about just what you would expect: how the University of Florida well known, shall we say, as the home of the fighting Florida Gator football team, basketball team and, well, just about every other sports team that has been either a national champion or nationally ranked in recent years has joined the ranks of MIT, Caltech and some other universities. In what area, you ask? Well, these other universities are considered meccas of robust technology transfer operations. And now, it seems, so is the University of Florida.
This should not come as a surprise to anyone, of course. The University of Florida, after all, is the place that spawned the multibillion-dollar sports-beverage industry, with the invention of Gatorade® in 1965.
