[ig1]

Firstly he probably doesn't own any IP for the work he's done at the university, PhDs and post-docs normally assign rights to their university as part of their contracts.

However this also has it's upside, any top-tier science/engineering university is going to have a department whose sole job it is to commercialize research. And they'll not only be able to sort out the IP side and help with the productization, but they'll also have the contacts with investors who understand about investing in this type of company. Find out who these guys are at his university and put him in touch with them!