LES - Licensing Executives Society - Industry-University-Government Interface Sector

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Industry-University-Government Interface (IUGI) Sector

IUGI News

A sub-sector dedicated to Entrepreneurship!
Entrepreneurship, or the creation of start-up companies, is a vector of economic growth and a substantial source of industry-industry partnerships. It is also broadly acknowledged that this represents a significant metric of success from the perspective of our state governments. Recognizing this important niche at the interface of Industry, University and Government laboratories, Tony Stanco, Esq. (Georges Washington University) and Isabelle Gorrillot, Ph.D. (University of Pennsylvania) are creating a sub-sector within IUGI dedicated to addressing the many challenges associated with entrepreneurship, especially those relating to university entrepreneurship.

Atlanta has demonstrated significant activity in this area. Therefore, the Spring Meeting appeared to us as an ideal venue to launch this new sub-sector. Please join Tony and Isabelle at the LES Spring Meeting to define topics of interest and plan activities supporting this sub-sector! IUGI and the Entrepreneurship sub-sector will sponsor an add-on on May 16 from 8.30 am until 5.00 pm. Attend this day-long event!

If you are interested, please:

Contact Tony Stanco (stanco@gwu.edu) or Isabelle Gorrillot (igorrillot@ctt.upenn.edu)
Attend the IUGI business meeting in Atlanta
Register for the May 16 Entrepreneurship add-on!

Contribute to IUGI visibility within the LES! Propose workshops and add-ons!
IUGI representation at key LES events is important. IUGI represents about 12% of the total LES membership, and a core asset for our industrial and investment partners. Indeed, it is widely recognized that companies compete hard to be at the forefront of innovation and feed their pipeline of future products. This is especially true in the biopharmaceutical domain, where the high risk attached to new product development makes it critical for companies to have back-ups. A recent article in The Economist, for example mentions Pfizer's financial troubles associated with the soon patent expiration of Lipitor® and sudden drop off of what the company had seen as its replacement compound Torcetrapib, which is accompanied with about 10,000 lay-offs. Universities, research centers and national laboratories are reservoirs of inventions available for companies to license. The Open Innovation model provides a framework to facilitate university-industry partnerships as early as the research stage and through technology licensing. Let's share concrete approaches to address our industry partners' needs and overcome the cultural barrier between our organizations that all but undermine the global effort toward accomplishing the ultimate goal of the Bayh-Dole Act: to benefit the public good through transferring academic inventions into the market place and benefiting research and education in our institutions. Proposing workshops, add-ons, participating to your local chapter meetings are a few ways to build tomorrow's licensing vision!

IUGI partnerships with other professional associations:
Members who have executive contacts at the Federal Laboratory Consortium, please contact our Co-Chairs, Dr. Robert R. Gruetzmacher as we are investigating the merits of a partnership with FLC.
We would also appreciate suggestions of other professional associations relevant to our activities, with contact info at decision making level. Please provide background behind your suggestion.

Mentoring within the LES...
Mentoring should be clearly distinguished from coaching.... Mentors are not expected to act as professional coaches, but as welcoming LES hosts or "trekking guides" to new and recent members. It is a way of inviting new or recent members so that they quickly feel included within the Society and as a result in a position to more rapidly extract the value of their membership. You will thus understand that mentoring does not require a huge time commitment as coaching would for example, but is likely to generate, at least, substantial personal enrichment. The IUGI has both protégés and mentors to address your particular areas of interest. Whether a new or recent member of the LES or a "old -timer", please log into the Members' Only Section of the LES Web site and visit the Mentoring Committee webpage by clicking on the Mentoring Committee link in the "New Features" section of this restricted site.

Deals of Distinction Award: recognize licensing leaders in IUG transactions!
Another important milestone in LES yearly activities is the nomination for the Deals of Distinction. The LES Deals of Distinction Award (DDA) is an annual Industry Sector award program of LES (USA and Canada), which aspires to recognize worthy licensing deals and promote creative and innovative solutions to business issues involving contracts. Each of the LES (USA and Canada) Industry Sector Committees has the option to make an award to whom they feel has completed the most deserving deal from within their field. The awards are given each year at the Annual Meeting. For more information and submission, please visit the DDA web page.

Editorship: Contribute to IUGI meeting content!
We are looking for at least two editors within IUGI, who would attend all IUGI event sessions and screen those that could provide subject matter for LES Nouvelles article publication and/or web posting on our site. Because many of us cannot attend all meetings, it would be desirable to have several editors who could rotate between LES meetings, and have at least one for each geographical region (Eastern, Mid-USA, and Western). Such editors would also be encouraged to share with us sessions that they would have attended at other meetings, which they think could provide good starting points for future LES workshops or publications, and provide an always renewed pool of presenters. The more editors the more ideas for future event sessions!

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