A.R. “Venky” Venkatachalam, Professor of Information Systems at the University of New Hampshire, has received the 2006 Excellence in Research Award from the university. The award honors a member of the UNH faculty who has demonstrated superior creativity and success in his research.

Venkatachalam, who has served as the principal investigator on a number of large-scale research technology projects at the university, is highly regarded for his ability to conceptualize innovative projects that take complex subjects with massive amounts of data and develop systems that allow people to access the information in a meaningful way.

“Venky is a highly skilled researcher whose contributions have substantially benefited the business community as well as his students. He has demonstrated excellence at every level of his distinguished career,” said Steve Bolander, dean of the UNH Whittemore School of Business and Economics.

His latest project, which is being developed by his long-time technology partner, the UNH Research Computing Center (RCC), tracks security interests in intellectual property. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded the university’s new Enterprise Integration Research Center, which Venkatachalam directs, $990,000 to build a virtual network, linking state-based uniform commercial code databases with federally based patent database. The grant is the largest ever awarded to the Whittemore School.

“Reducing the uncertainty surrounding the use of intellectual property as collateral increases the likelihood that entrepreneurs and investors will gain increased access to capital at lower costs,” Venkatachalam said. “The payoff would be a more timely, effective and efficient method of funding intellectual property-based innovation, thus potentially unlocking both job and wealth creation.”

Venkatachalam’s insights led to the development of ACE-Net (Angel Capital Electronic Network), an Internet-based network started at UNH in 1995 that assists small businesses looking for equity capital that is now used in 45 states. In 2000, ACE-Net reached the $1 billion milestone in raising equity financing for entrepreneurs in the nation.

He also developed the idea for PRO-Net, a system that lets users look for businesses that have been approved to work for the government. The U.S. Small Business Administration turned to Venkatachalam for a solution after spending $10 million in an unsuccessful attempt to build a procurement network. RCC built PRO-Net for less than $150,000. PRO-Net has more than 195,000 companies listed to permit federal, state, local and private procurement officers to find and solicit proposals from small businesses interested in government, prime- and sub-contractor procurements.

For his leadership role in the creation of PRO-Net, Venkatachalam was honored by Vice President Al Gore at the White House in 1997.

Venkatachalam also was one of the leaders of a team that participated in a pilot study funded by Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) involving use of the Internet for transfer of defense technologies to the private industry. This pilot program, completed in 1998, successfully demonstrated a technology transfer process involving two defense laboratories and several private industries in two Northeastern states.

A native of India, Venkatachalam earned his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Madras, India. His graduate degrees – an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta and Ph.D. from the University of Alabama – are in business management. He is chair of the Department of Decision Sciences at the Whittemore School. He has been at UNH since 1992.

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