Zach Miles, right, UNLV’s associate vice president for economic development, talks with fellow university staffers at a CES booth on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019.
Sunday, Jan. 13, 2019 | 2 a.m.
At the Sands Expo and Convention Center, among hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of CES tech show attendees from around the world, one booth was distinctly Las Vegas. UNLV has been exhibiting at the annual tech show since 2014.
“We focus on the innovation and growth potential at CES,” said Zach Miles, the school’s associate vice president for economic development. “It’s about everything from making introductions to facilitating deals between companies here and the university. We’re helping to diversify and drive the community.”
Miles was one of a dozen school staffers manning two UNLV booths last week, shaking hands with representatives of tech companies that might one day use UNLV’s facilities.
Miles said UNLV was primarily pitching the 122-acre, mixed-use Harry Reid Research and Technology Park, which serves as UNLV’s tech incubator.
An initial economic analysis by the UNLV Center for Business and Economic Research last year estimated the park, scheduled to open in October at the 215 Beltway and Durango Drive, will generate 25,000 new jobs and as much as $2.6 billion in direct and indirect economic impact in Las Vegas over 20 years.
Next to the UNLV booth, a company that has already taken advantage of a research partnership with the university showed off its latest products.
QuickStrip, a Canadian medical startup, has contracted UNLV researchers for more than a year to help develop and test its rapid-release pharmaceutical products.
Instead of taking medicine via a pill or liquid, QuickStrip provides users with a thin film-like patch that can be dissolved in the user’s mouth. Developers say it helps digest anything from caffeine to vitamins, prescription medications and cannabis products faster than other methods of oral administration.
Thanks to the partnership with UNLV, QuickStrip was able to research the efficacy of the company’s products in an affordable and effective way, company spokeswoman Kristina Shea said. “They’re doing amazing work for us,” she said.
As many as five UNLV students also made their way to the exhibition hall floor this week, Miles said. The mostly junior and senior engineering majors used the opportunity to network for themselves and on behalf of UNLV’s Office of Economic Development, Miles said.
If the students brought back enough business cards, the university agreed to pay for their CES passes, which cost between $400 and $1,000.
