Biotechnology Transfer Capacity Project
by Rita Heimes, Director, Center for Law & Innovation, University of Maine School of Law at USM
Funder: Maine Technology Institute (MTI) Cluster Enhancement Award
The Biotechnology Transfer Capacity project consists of two parts. First, on June 8-10 the Center for Law & Innovation at USM is hosted an invitation-only workshop (the Knowledge Transfer Workshop) on technology transfer for publicly-funded biotechnology and marine technology research organizations. These include Bigelow Laboratory, Foundation for Blood Research, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Jackson Laboratory, Maine Medical Center Research Institute, Mt. Desert Island Biological Laboratory, University of Maine, University of New England, and University of Southern Maine. The workshop was held at the Schoodic Education and Research Center on the Schoodic Peninsula, north of Bar Harbor. The event was underwritten by the MTI Cluster Enhancement Award.
The second phase of the project involves the affiliation of life sciences technology transfer expert Todd Keiller with the Center for Law & Innovation for twelve months, beginning in July 2005. Mr. Keiller will be working, along with intellectual property lawyers from the Center for Law & Innovation, with a number of the participating research organizations mentioned above. We will assist them with technology transfer education and with developing a process for innovation disclosure, patenting and licensing, as well as compliance with federal regulations. Over the course of the year, we will evaluate the extent to which these organizations need and want on-going technology transfer support and will develop a business plan to meet that need.
This project originated with a report published by the Center for Law & Innovation in early 2004 entitled “From Laboratory to Marketplace: The Capacity of Maine’s Research Institutions for Innovation and Technology Transfer.” In that report, we noted that overall Maine’s world-class non-profit research laboratories and universities lack capacity to identify innovations with commercial potential and find industrial partners to commercialize their technologies. The Center then determined that its annual conference would, in 2005, focus exclusively on this issue and invite Maine’s research institutions to an intensive workshop on why and how to consider building technology transfer capacity. We also determined that Todd Keiller’s affiliation with the Center, when combined with our patent experts and academic interests in university-industry relations, would provide us with a complete set of skills to assist the state’s scientific research organizations with understanding the ins and outs of knowledge transfer and ultimately to assist them with its execution.
The conference and Keillor’s consulting fee are paid for with funds from the MTI award. Matching funds are contributed in the form of cash from workshop participants, and time investments by personnel at USM and University of Maine. We intend to involve law and business school students as much as possible in the second phase of the project.