Today’s guest is Markus Wanko, the Head of Technology Transfer at TWIST, which is the Tech Transfer organization for the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) in Austria. Markus has been driving the development of IST Park, the technology park adjacent to IST Austria and IST Cube, a science and tech-based seed fund. Markus came to TWIST after a 15-year career in investing and strategy. Specifically, Markus’ background is in venture capital investing with Safeguard Scientifics and the Europea...
Dec 22, 2021•37 min
“A society without black leaders and black researchers does not bear thinking about.” Dr. Natalie Cozier is, among many other things, a black female doctor, scientist, researcher and consultant who has been subjected to abuse and harassment in the workplace, and in society in general, because of the color of her skin. Despite this, she stays resilient, and this resilience has led her to have a very successful career in the technology transfer industry. She is now determined to make the industry ...
Dec 15, 2021•26 min
Today’s guest hails from Chile, a country which still has a long way to go in terms of its capacity for technology transfer, but being the home of many world-class scientists, and with people like today’s guest, Alvaro Ossa, leading the charge, the future looks bright. For over 15 years Alvaro Ossa has combined his creativity with his engineering skills to head-up the R&D effort, IP protection and commercialization of research at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC). Despite a lack ...
Dec 08, 2021•35 min
When Scottish physical education teacher, Lesley Millar-Nicholson, moved to America for her then partner, and now wife, she could never have imagined the career trajectory that lay ahead of her. An internship in the technology transfer office at the University of Illinois (where she received her MBA) led to a licensing job, which in turn led to her becoming the director of the office. She held this position for 10 years before moving on to her current role as director of the Technology Licensing...
Dec 01, 2021•45 min
As an English major, Orin Herskowitz was an unlikely candidate for the science heavy world of technology transfer. However, after overcoming the initial imposter syndrome he felt when he became part of the technology transfer team at Columbia University, he realized that the field requires people with a wide range of skill sets, and he quickly found his feet. As Orin explains today, universities have four main purposes; training the next generation of world leaders, pushing boundaries of knowled...
Nov 17, 2021•51 min
Today’s guest started his career as a salesman, and his many years of experience in the sales world equipped him with skills that have been indispensable throughout his journey as the director of Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s (WPI) Office of Technology Commercialization. Todd and his two team members are responsible for the commercializing effort at WPI, and since 2009 they have taken the technology transfer metrics at the university from zero to off the charts in relation to the size and fi...
Nov 10, 2021•28 min
Like many technology transfer professionals, Thomas Schmidt found his way into the field by accident, after a part-time marketing role turned into a full-time business development position. His passion has been unwavering ever since, and after his 7-year stint at Aarhus University, he moved to the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), where, for the past 8 years, he has been the head of the technology transfer department. Thomas’s office managed to get through 2020 without any major issues, but ...
Nov 03, 2021•34 min
Not only is Ellen MacKay the only registered technology transfer professional in her department, but she is also the only one in the whole of Northern Ontario! After completing her Master’s in education at Lakehead University, Ellen’s first job landed her in the technology transfer field of her alma mater, as an assistant. She quickly worked her way up, and for the past few years, she has been fostering a thriving, innovative community as the Director of Innovation Development. Ellen’s Office of...
Oct 27, 2021•34 min
The field of technology transfer looks different all over the world, and in today’s episode I’m joined by Gilberto Medeiros Ribeiro, the Director of Innovation and Technology Transfer Coordination at UMFG, who is here to talk about the current technology transfer environment in Brazil. The field is faced with a number of challenges, including a high turnover rate, a federal aversion to funding basic science, and a lack of effective processes. Despite this, Gilberto’s office is responsible for so...
Oct 20, 2021•47 min
Despite the fact that Pooja Bhatia’s Innovation and Technology Transfer Office (i-TTO) opened in March 2020, just before COVID-19 lockdowns came into effect in India, her and her all-women team have managed to achieve an incredible amount during the past year and a half. In today’s episode, Pooja, the Chief Manager of the i-TTO at the Foundation of Innovation and Technology (FIT) in Delhi, joins me for a discussion about how India’s approach to technology transfer has changed over the years, and...
Oct 13, 2021•35 min
Today’s guest, holder of a PhD in biochemistry, found his way into the technology transfer field through an unusual method; cold writing to technology transfer offices. After working at Northwestern University for 17 years, Mike Moore decided he wanted to expand his scope of experience and he moved to the far lesser-known University of Augusta, where he is currently the Director of the Office of Innovation Commercialization. In this episode, Mike shares information about Augusta that many of you...
Oct 06, 2021•23 min
Christy Wyskiel’s passion for born and bred local business prompted her to leave her job as an institutional investor on Wall Street and focus on helping Baltimore entrepreneurs and inventors thrive. In her estimation, her current role as the Executive Director of Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures (JHTV) is close to the best job in the world! JHTV acts as a bridge between world-changing inventions being developed in laboratories, and the market, and their breadth of field covers everything from ...
Sep 29, 2021•48 min
While working as the Program Director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Jon Soderstrom received a phone call which would end up altering his career trajectory in a way he couldn’t have imagined. Although Jon’s initial response to the offer to work at Yale was no, after having a meeting with the man who was to become his future boss, he realized that Yale was exactly where he needed to be. Over 25 years, and more than 25 new ventures later, the rest is history. In today’s episode, Jon and I discu...
Sep 22, 2021•53 min
Today’s guest is meant to be winding down towards retirement, but she’s too enamored with her work to let go just yet. Teri Willey’s colorful career has taken her from the chemical industry to the world of angel investing and fund creation, from the US to the UK and back again. She is currently the managing director of Indiana University (IU) Ventures which assists students, faculty, staff, and alums advance high potential new inventions through direct investment, co-investment, angel investment...
Sep 15, 2021•29 min
Throughout her amazing career, today’s guest has had a huge impact on the Tech Transfer community and continues to do so today. Kathy Ku has been working in Tech Transfer since the 1980s and in this episode she shares her unique journey describing her career moves as “happenstance.” Kathy is the Chief Licensing Advisor in the Palo Alto office of Wilson Sonsini. She is also a member of the technology transactions and the patents and innovations practice groups. She is an internationally recognize...
Sep 08, 2021•34 min
Today I am joined by two guests; Cullum Clark and Christian Blackwell. Cullum is the Director of the Bush Institute SMU-Economic Growth Initiative and Christian is the Managing Partner at Opus Faveo Innovation Development, and their combination of skills and experience is a force to be reckoned with! The purpose of today’s episode is to unpack the report which was produced by Cullum, Christian, and a number of other colleagues of theirs (who are all acknowledged by name towards the end) titled t...
Sep 01, 2021•1 hr
Even before she expresses it outwardly, it is clear that Alison Campbell is deeply passionate about technology transfer and that working in this field brings her a lot of joy. In today’s episode I have the pleasure of speaking to a woman who was one of the first technology transfer managers at the Medical Research Council and is currently the Director of Knowledge Transfer Ireland (KTI). KTI is national office which aims to make it easier for companies to connect and engage with publicly funded ...
Aug 25, 2021•50 min
Today’s guest, Jeff Purnell, has an engineering degree, a PhD in chemistry, and is currently working as a senior technology licensing officer in the Office of Technology Transfer at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). Prior to this, Jeff held various R&D and product development roles in major companies. The goal of Jeff’s department, which is one of three situated in UMB’s Office of Research and Development, is to commercialize university IP so that it can benefit society. In this e...
Aug 18, 2021•24 min
Our guest today is the commercialization director of the Office of Research commercialization in the Texas Tech University System (TTUS). In order for inventions to reach the people who need them, they need to be patented, and Cameron’s role is to bridge the gap between industry and academia by executing commercialization agreements to bring inventions to market. In today’s episode, Cameron explains how the TTUS innovation ecosystem is structured and how the innovation cycle works, from when the...
Aug 11, 2021•33 min
This episode is a little different as I, Lisa Mueller, host of the Tech Transfer IP podcast, take the interviewee hotseat for a change! In today’s show, you’ll hear a brief rundown of my professional background, and how I ended up in the field of patent law after focusing my studies on environmental law. However, the main focus of this discussion is the podcast itself. When I first decided to create a podcast, I had no idea of the amount of work that it would require. After unsuccessfully trying...
Aug 04, 2021•36 min
In some ways, the Bayh-Dole Act saved the United States, and our guest on today’s show played a key role in its adoption. Joe Allen was part of the US Senate Judiciary Committee for Birch Bayh, the senator whose name makes up one part of the Act which was deemed one of the most inspired pieces of legislation that America had seen in half a century. The intention of the Act was to foster R&D partnerships between universities and US industry in order to put an end to the government’s practice ...
Jul 28, 2021•55 min
After working in America for 20 years, Dublin born Declan Weldon returned to his alma mater, Trinity College, as the Deputy Director for Research and Innovation and the head of the Office of Corporate Partnership and Knowledge. Trinity has one of the largest hubs of R&D accessible infrastructure in Ireland, is responsible for 600 industry engagements, and for the past 6 years, Trinity College graduates have been ranked number one in Europe for entrepreneurial performance. The focus of Declan...
Jul 21, 2021•48 min
Many PhD recipients spend their careers in academia, but today’s guest, Dr. Isabel Ramos, decided that she wanted to apply her knowledge in the real world. Isabel’s current role is innovation manager at Siemens Healthineers, where she and her team work alongside universities and other partners to create technologies related to digital health. In today’s episode, Isabel explains what she loves about her work, and the journey she took to reach the point she is now at in her career. A major part of...
Jul 14, 2021•26 min
Today’s guest is Dr. Anji Miller ; a senior business manager in the technology transfer division at LifeArc , a self-funded medical research charity which has a 25 year legacy of collaborating with scientists in order to transform medical innovations into benefits for patients. Her role focuses on the evaluation and translation of academic derived science. Anji’s had had a lifelong love for science, and has three degrees in the field, as well as a Masters in the management of intellectual proper...
Jul 07, 2021•26 min
Hello and welcome to another episode of Tech Transfer IP . Today I am pleased to speak with Bill Payne, the Executive Director of Science and Technology at the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago . Bill leads the technology commercialization, Polsky Science Ventures , and industry relations team working to bring groundbreaking faculty research to the market. Bill is also a startup veteran, having founded and built a company that developed a mobile adver...
Jun 30, 2021•44 min
Welcome to another episode of Tech Transfer IP . Today I am pleased to speak with Elaine Spector. Elaine is a patent attorney with Harrity & Harrity with over twenty year's experience in intellectual property law. Elaine's current practice consists primarily of prosecuting patent applications with a focus on electromechanical technologies. Before joining Harrity & Harrity, Elaine worked in private practice for over fifteen years handling various intellectual property matters, including p...
Jun 23, 2021•37 min
Welcome to another episode of Tech Transfer IP . Today I am pleased to speak with Claiborne “Clay” Christian. Clay is a Business Development Officer for Tulane University. He focuses on establishing and facilitating collaborations involving research at Tulane and industry, venture capital, and other external partners, ensuring that all parties have an optimal enterprise experience. Clay received a bachelor’s degree in classics and classical language, literature, and linguistics, with a minor in ...
Jun 16, 2021•39 min
Welcome to another episode of Tech Transfer IP . Today I am pleased to speak with Kirsten Leute, a Partner at Osage University Partners (OUP). At OUP, Kirsten is responsible for relationships with over 100 academic institutions that are partnered with the fund, engaging potential new partner institutions, and enhancing and creating value-add programs for the partnered academic institutions. Kirsten has also been actively involved in Tech Transfer outside of her daily work. She was a former two-t...
Jun 09, 2021•35 min
Hello and welcome to a very special episode of Tech Transfer IP . Today I am pleased to speak with George Chellapa and Meagan Pitcher, the Co-chairs of AUTM’s Better World Project . However, before we talk about the details of the Better World Project, let me tell you a little about my guests George and Meagan. George is an Invention Manager at Innovation and New Ventures at Northwestern University. George works with faculty to protect their intellectual property and bring technologies to market...
Jun 02, 2021•33 min
On this episode of Tech Transfer IP, Lisa is speaking with Meagan Pitcher, a Licensing Associate at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) Ventures. In her role, Meagan handles technology evaluation and triage, patent prosecution management, commercialization plan development, negotiating of complex technology licenses, post-deal compliance, and much more. Before BCM, Meagan was with the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Meagan shares her background and her journey to Tech Transfer...
May 26, 2021•39 min
