Dr. John Bognar joins Montana Technological University as inaugural director of technology transfer

From growing water filtration membranes from kombucha SCOBYs to creating spray-on bandages, leading the way in extracting and processing critical minerals and making groundbreaking nanotechnology discoveries, researchers at Montana Technological University are hard at work creating innovative solutions to some of the world’s most complicated problems. The University has hired Dr. John Bognar as its first director of technology transfer to spearhead a growing number of projects that seek to commercialize technological discoveries made at Montana Tech that have the potential to revolutionize a number of industries and spur economic growth.

Bognar joined the University on Aug. 12.

“Montana Tech is quite fortunate that John is joining campus,” Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Graduate School Angela Lueking said. “John’s experience as an entrepreneur is tremendously complementary and advantageous to campus: It is quite a feat to successfully manage a technology-driven small business based on one’s own inventions for 22 years. We are quite fortunate that John has decided to share these experience and lessons with our own faculty and student inventors. This is a transformative moment for Montana Tech, representing a shift that will expand the reach of Montana Tech from the laboratory to society and support economic development of the community.”

Dr. Bognar has spent 26 years as a founder and leader in high-tech small businesses and has several years of teaching experience at the University level. He has served as president and founder of Anasphere since 2002. He has also previously served as vice president and founder of Glacigen Materials, and was active in the Montana Space Grant Consortium as BOREALIS flight director. He was an assistant research professor at the Montana State University Department of Chemistry from 2003-2005. Dr. Bognar has five US patents on gas and hydrogen generators, and a radio-acoustic sounding system for remotely measuring atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles. These inventions supported his small business.

“My technology transfer experience comes from owning a small business, in which I have patented and commercialized technologies related to atmospheric sensors and gas generators, with markets found in the Department of Defense and NASA,” Dr. Bognar said. “As a small business owner, I have successfully commercialized new technologies and raised funds to support the business, interfacing with patent attorneys, angel investors, and venture capital firms. I am very excited to help Montana Tech transition its innovations from the laboratory to practical applications in industry and products."

Bognar’s hiring has been made possible through increasing research revenue to campus, most notably, projects sponsored by the DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory (ARL). Such sponsors are increasing expectations that the research will see application outside the laboratory, and move from laboratory to commercialization. The partnership with ARL was made possible through the advocacy of U.S. Senator Jon Tester.

“Every day, Montana’s top-notch research institutions, like Montana Tech, are developing new technologies to move our state forward and solidify our country’s position as the world’s greatest military and economic power,” said U.S. Senator Jon Tester. “But that can’t happen without strong leadership. I’m glad to see Montana Tech naming the first Director of Technology Transfer to lead this important work, and I look forward to working together to ensure Montana Tech and the Army Research Lab have the resources they need to continue innovating right here in Big Sky Country.”

AUTM, formerly known as the Association of University Technology Managers, is an association of over 3,100 technology transfer professionals. It estimates that academic technology transfer adds billions of dollars to the U.S. economy, supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs in creating products that often increase quality of life. In addition to the benefits to the greater economy, individual institutions stand to generate significant revenue. For example, Missouri University of Science and Technology, a mid-sized STEM-focused school with structure similar to Montana Tech, announced Aug. 2 that it had exceeded $1 million in technology transfer licensing revenue for fiscal year 2024. This number provides an aspirational benchmark for Montana Tech, and suggests the licensing revenue will ensure financial viability of this initiative.

Todd Daniels serves as director of the Office of Technology Translation Research (OTTR) at Montana State University in Bozeman, and served on the search committee that hired Bognar. Daniels was encouraged by Bognar’s background and believes he has the skillset necessary to move technology transfer forward on campus.

“I believe he truly understands that process of taking something that might be a concept on the research side of things and turning that into a business,” Daniels said. “I had the opportunity to visit Montana Tech earlier this year, and I heard researchers talk about technology that could be patented and commercialized, but that wasn’t moving beyond the laboratory. Having Dr. Bognar in this position means that there will be committed expertise to help move student and faculty inventions to commercialization. Moving forward, I’d expect the number of patents and licenses to increase, as this requires dedicated effort, generally beyond what can reasonably be expected by the inventor, whose specialty is generally elsewhere. A dedicated resource allows the inventor to continue to focus on the science or engineering, as well as education.”

Daniels expects student names to appear on some of those patents.

“Students also may want to take those patents and create a business. Providing them a resource to do this, is a critical enabler,” Daniels said.

Serving as a model for Montana Tech, Daniels’ office serves as a resource to guide and assist organizations through the commercialization process. The Valley of Death refers to the gaps that hinder projects from advancing from the research and development stage to the commercialization stage. There are numerous obstacles that stand between patenting a technology and getting it into the hands of the consumer. There has to be an end-user that wants to use the product, and there has to be some volume behind that demand to generate enough sales for it to be profitable. There also has to be manufacturing capability to produce the product or technology at scale. 

Bognar looks forward to working with Montana Tech’s inventors in his new role. To learn more about research and innovation at the University visit mtech.edu/research. Dr. Bognar can be reached at jbognar@mtech.edu.