John T. Watson
Jack Savidge
Steve Flaim
Mary Zoeller
Tim Rueth
Paul Kedrosky
Abigail Barrow
Joe Bear
Rick LeFaivre
Linda Hamilton
Robert Conn

The 1980 enactment of P.L. 96-517, The Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act, usually referred to as the Bayh-Dole Act, dates the current authority for the transfer of new technology from university laboratories to the private sector (1). The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) through its Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Services (TechTIPS) program has experienced some success in implementing this Act (2). To enhance the UCSD technology transfer effort, in 1999, the Jacobs School of Engineering and the William J. von Liebig Foundation agreed on creating a novel Entrepreneurial Center within the pending construction of the Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall (3). This article is a report of the Center’s first four years of operation and the “von Liebig Effect” on the commercialization of UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering faculty inventions and a culture of entrepreneurism.