NC State engineering professor named Entrepreneur of the Year

Dr. Jayant Baliga, Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the Power Semiconductor Research Center at North Carolina State University, has been honored with the Dr. John S. Risley Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Each year, the Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) at NC State honors an Entrepreneur and Innovator of the Year. Recently, the award focused on entrepreneurship was named for the late Dr. John S. Risley, an esteemed NC State physics professor, inventor, entrepreneur and founder of WebAssign; Risley passed away earlier this year. Members of his family were in attendance Nov. 15 to see the award given during OTT’s 24th annual Celebration of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Baliga is a serial entrepreneur who has founded four successful companies in the Triangle area.  In 1999, he founded Giant Semiconductor Corporation to commercialize his invention the GD-MOSFET transistor. The innovation is being manufactured and distributed by Alpha-Omega Corporation for use in commercial and industrial power supplies.

He also formed another company in 1999 — Micro-Ohm Corporation — which has been successful in developing and licensing his invention called the GD-TMBS power rectifier for application in power supplies, battery chargers, automotive electronics, and solar panels. Visahy-Siliconix considers this the most successful new rectifier product in the last 25 years.

In June 2000, Baliga founded Silicon Wireless Corporation to commercialize a novel super-linear silicon RF transistor that he invented for application in cellular base-stations; the company grew to 41 employees. The company was named the Center for Entrepreneurial Development’s 2002 Spin Off of the Year and received an investment of $10 million from Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation in December 2000. The technology was benchmarked by all of the cellular network providers as the best in the industry for base-station power amplifiers.

Baliga founded a fourth company in the Triangle, Silicon Semiconductor Corporation in Research Triangle Park, NC, in 2003 and grew it to 22 employees. The company developed and manufactured a new generation of power MOSFETs that he invented for voltage regulator modules currently available in the market for powering microprocessor and graphics chips in laptops and servers. The technology was licensed by his company to Linear Technologies Corporation and Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation.

“I am very pleased to receive this recognition of my entrepreneurial efforts,” Baliga said. “Although most start-up companies have a one in 10 chance of being successful, I have been fortunate to create four companies that have all launched innovative products that are in the marketplace with beneficial impact on society. I appreciate the support of the venture funds and my employees in this favorable outcome.”

A National Academy of Engineering member since 1993, Baliga is an internationally recognized expert on power semiconductor devices. For his contributions, Baliga received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest form of recognition given to an engineer by the United States government, from President Barack Obama in October 2011.

Dr. R. Michael Roe, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor in the Department of Entomology, received the top prize for Innovator of the Year.

Roe has made numerous groundbreaking discoveries in the area of arthropod physiology and insecticide resistance. His research has led to 36 patents and 10 commercial licenses, as well as the commercial sale of a potent natural insect repellent.

The NC State Entrepreneur and Innovator of the Year awards were established to recognize members of the NC State community who work to promote the commercialization of university intellectual property, train future leaders, and serve as champions of the university’s culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.