The Agenda

Welcome Remarks

Joni Rutter, Acting Director, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), NIH

Agenda Overview and Keynote Introduction

Lili Portilla, Director, Office of Strategic Alliances (OSA), NCATS, NIH

Keynote Address

Protecting and Promoting Public/Private Sector Partnerships Is Critical to Our Future.

Joseph P. Allen, Owner, Allen & Associates

Panel I

Federal Technology Transfer - Stakeholder Expectations

The goal of any successful technology transfer office (TTO) is to be responsive to the expectations of its diverse stakeholders while at the same time facilitating the mission of its agency. The TTOs engage with both internal (laboratories, management, program offices) and external (companies, patient advocacy groups, entrepreneurs, collaborators) stakeholders to manage innovation and promote rapid technology transfer. This Panel will present perspectives of diverse stakeholders of a Federal TTO and how they would assess the performance or success of a TTO.

Moderator (10 min):

Anton Simeonov, Scientific Director, Division of Pre-Clinical Innovation, NCATS

Panel Members (15 min each w/ 20 min discussion):

Kathy Ku, Chief Licensing Advisor, Wilson Sonsini

Ravi Rao, Biotech Entrepreneur

Elizabeth Stoner, Executive Partner, MPM Capital

Ron Bartek, President/Director/Co-Founder, The Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance

Panel II

Impact of Technology Transfer on Agency Mission.

Federal laboratories and Universities, by advancing medicine, technology, security, agriculture, and public health, play a critical role in improving quality of life. By helping transform research into innovation, TTOs ensure research is translated into accessible solutions to benefit humanity. It is common knowledge that TTO activities, while facilitating their agency mission, directly and indirectly contribute to economic, health, and other societal benefits. However, teasing out and assessing either quantitative or qualitative contributions of a TTO on economic, health, or other societal benefit is often very complex. This Panel will highlight some of the theory and current practices related to impact assessment as related to technology transfer, present some recent case studies, and discuss the pros and cons of different approaches.

Moderator (10 min):

Mark Rohrbaugh, Special Advisor for Technology Transfer, Office of Science Policy NIH

Panel Members (15 min each w/ 20 min discussion):

Don Siegel, Professor and Director, School of Public Affairs, ASU

Michael Wallner, Lead Economic Researcher-TechLink & U.S. Dept. of Defense

Lori Pressman, Consultant and Advisor

Al Link, Professor, Dept. of Economics, UNC (Greensboro)

Panel III

Innovation at Technology Transfer Offices

Successful TTOs must be dynamic and innovative with regards to their own internal processes and how those processes mesh creatively with their program objectives and business practices. How innovative are TTOs? What is the “secret sauce” that makes a TTO innovative? Can be it measured and replicated? This Panel will highlight some of the perspectives related to innovation in both university and federal technology transfer and how to foster creativity and enhance performance.

Moderator (10 min):

Susan Ano, Director, Office of Technology Transfer, NINDS, NIH

Panel Members (15 min each w/ 20 min discussion):

Paul Zielinski, Executive Director, Federal Labs Consortium

Orin Herskowitz, Sr. Vice President, Intellectual Property & Tech Transfer for Columbia University, Executive Director of Columbia Technology Ventures

Vanessa Peña, Science and Technology Policy Institute · ‎Institute for Defense Analyses

Tom Stackhouse, Director, Technology Transfer Center, NCI, NIH

Panel IV

Federal Technology Transfer Offices: Measuring Efficiencies and Effectiveness- Beyond Traditional Metrics

The effectiveness and efficiency of a TTO often cannot be measured merely – or solely– by counting agreements, licenses, or even monies returned on invention investment. How can TTOs gauge internal efficiency and effectiveness in light of pioneering or visionary agency missions? Are there outputs that can and should be described quantitatively or qualitatively that speak to groundbreaking impacts that flow from TTO activities? This Panel will highlight perspectives related to metrics of Technology and Alliance management that trace the ripple effects created within the work scope of TTOs.

Moderator (10 min):

Michael Mowatt, Director, TTIPO, NIAID, NIH

Panel Members (15 min each w/ 20 min discussion):

Laura Schoppe, President, Fuentek

Courtney Silverthorn, Acting Director, TPO, NIST

John Fraser, President, Burnside Development and Associates

David Waldman, Professor, W. P. Carey School of Business, ASU

Closing Address:

Mojdeh Bahar, Associate Director for Innovation and Industry Services, NIST

Adjournment & Action Items:

Lili Portilla, Director, Office of Strategic Alliances, NCATS, NIH