WARF
After receiving his patent, the Quaker Oats company offered $1 million (approximately $10 million dollars today) for Steenbock's Vitamin D technology. Steenbock thought twice about the offer. Instead of quickly selling his rights to a commercial company, Steenbock believed the money should be returned to the university.
After soliciting interest from nine other University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni, Steenbock was influential in starting the first university technology transfer office, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). WARF's initial operating budget was $900, one hundred dollars from each of the nine alumni.
On February 19, 1927, WARF completed its first licensing agreement with the Quaker Oats company. The license permitted Quaker Oats to fortify its breakfast cereals with Vitamin D. WARF went on to license the technology to pharmaceutical companies for a medical application, which was known as Viosterol.
Read more about this topic: Harry Steenbock