Tom Clement

The University of Washington continues to attract top talent from the Seattle area to participate in its newly-launched entrepreneur-in-residence program -- an effort to match experienced business leaders with cutting-edge academic research. The latest to join the effort is Tom Clement, the 53-year-old co-founder and former chief executive at Pathway Medical Technologies.

Clement, who received a masters in electrical engineering from the UW in 1981, is one of the region's top medical device entrepreneurs having previously been involved in the formation of Heart Technology. He also serves as chairman of the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association.

Clement joins a growing cadre of business leaders who have been tasked with nosing around labs and scientific departments in an effort to uncover research that could be commercialized.

"I actually feel like a kid in a candy store," said Clement, when asked about the new role. Clement -- who left Pathway last year after a decade -- started the part time gig last month. So far, he's been meeting with inventors and licensing professionals to get a sense of what the UW may have to offer.

Clement has yet to identity any specific projects, but given the history of medical device research at the UW he's confident something will emerge. 

"Just what I've seen, there's a lot going on," said Clement. "There's work that is being done in treating nerves and chronic pain." He also has been looking at some programs related heart problems, an area where he has expertise given his role at Heart Technology. (Some of the technology at Heart and Pathway was licensed from the UW.)

One other possibility would be to establish a medical device incubator that was connected to the UW, he said.

"It would be for those (technologies) that aren't quite ready to be out on their own -- to help move the technology into a format is ready for financing by the venture capital community," said Clement. "At this point in time, I am trying to define the process."

The idea, Clement said, is to try to serve as a "catalyst" for those technologies. "It is not just a function that is really under the charter of the academic (university)," he said.

He's been working with the UW's Linden Rhoads and Janis Machala -- who attracted Clement to the EIR program -- on that concept.

Others in the EIR program -- which started earlier this year -- include WildTangent founder Alex St. John (software); former Rosetta Inpharmatics executive Deborah Kessler (Biomedical) and former investment banker Jeff Canin (clean tech). Richard Mander also recently joined the program.

In addition to the EIR program, Clement said he's spending his time looking for the next big idea in medical device innovation.

"I know just way too many really talented intrapreneurs and engineers and business people who are out of work," he said. "So I am really trying to see what is out there. And the next step, of course, is to be to also try to find some way to get some stuff financed."