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Meeting Location:
Emerging Enterprise Center at
Foley Hoag the Bay Colony Corporate Center
1000 Winter Street, Suite 4000 (North Entrance)
Waltham, MAMeeting Time: 6:30 - 9:30 pm
Meeting Cost:
$25 public, $10 students
and active military; Promotional Registrations
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
"Connecting entrepreneurs with ideas for new tech businesses"
Opportunity for entrepreneurs to meet with university leaders involved in tech transfer.
Technology Transfer: Nuts and Bolts - How to get Great Technologies out of Great Universities
New technologies are born everyday– and many of those technologies are incubated at our leading academic research centers. The individuals charged with managing the critical Technology Transfer process that sends newborn technologies into the world have a tremendous responsibility to maximize and balance opportunities across multiple constituencies: their institutions, their researchers (students and/or faculty), and entrepreneurs. The October 20th EntreTech Forum brings together a world-class panel of regional Tech Transfer leaders to share their experiences with the audience and each other.
Moderator:
Ken Blank
Vice Provost for Research - Northeastern University
Panelists:
Abi Barrow
Director – Mass Tech Transfer CenterDaniel Behr
Director of Business Development – Harvard UniversityAshley Stevens
Director of Office of Technology Transfer – Boston UniversityJames Gado
Associate Director, Corporate Relations – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Organizer:
Paul Zavracky
Dean of School for Technological Entrepreneurship - Northeastern University
Ken Blank - Vice Provost for Research - Northeastern University
Dr. Ken Blank was appointed Vice Provost for Research at Northeastern University in 2009. Prior to this appointment he was Vice Provost for Research at Drexel University from 2006 to 2008, Senior Associate Vice Provost for Research at Drexel University from 1998 to 2006 and as Associate Dean for Research at Allegheny University of the Health Sciences (now Drexel University College of Medicine) from 1994 to 1998.
Dr. Blank received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from New York University, University College of Arts and Sciences in 1970 and his Ph.D. in Genetics from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University in 1977. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania College of Medicine, he was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at this same institution in 1981. In 1986, Dr. Blank moved to Temple University College of Medicine as an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. In 1990, he became Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Hahnemann University College of Medicine. While at Hahnemann University he became the Founding Director of the Experimental Pathology Graduate Program.
PANEL:
Abi Barrow – Director – Mass Tech Transfer Center
Dr. Abigail Barrow is the Founding Director of the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center (MTTC). She is responsible for the overall management of the MTTC and the development of its programs. Prior to joining the MTTC, Dr. Barrow served as managing director of William J. von Liebig Center at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). The von Liebig Center was created in 2001 to support the commercialization of research being performed in the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering. She has also served as a member of the board of directors of the Center for the Commercialization of Advanced Technologies Consortium (CCAT), which assisted in the identification and commercialization of technologies in the area of crisis and consequence management and received more than $25 million in federal funding from the Office of Naval Research.
Dr. Barrow worked in a variety of roles at UCSD CONNECT from 1990 to 2001. At CONNECT, she developed and expanded many of its programs to support early-stage company formation and technology commercialization. The CONNECT program is now internationally recognized and has been successfully replicated in other regions of North America and in Europe.
Dr. Barrow is on the board and is Chair of the Massachusetts Office of International Trade and Investment (MOITI) and is on the board of the National Collegiate Inventors and innovators Alliance (NCIIA). In addition, she is a Fellow of the Beyster Institute at the Rady School of Management at UCSD.
Dr. Barrow received her Ph.D. from the Science Studies Unit and a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Edinburgh.
James Gado, Associate Director, Corporate Relations
James E. Gado is an Associate Director in the MIT Office of Corporate Relations. He currently manages relations with U.S., European and Middle East companies with a focus on developing a broader MIT presence in key markets globally via industry and academic collaborations.
Mr. Gado comes to MIT after more than 25 years in the specialty materials and chemical industry. His experience spans the sectors of construction, microelectronics, automotive, and food/beverage packaging all on a global basis. The majority of his career was spent at W.R. Grace & Co., with positions also at American Cyanamid Company and Teradyne, Inc.
James has held leadership positions at the director level for M&A, strategic planning and marketing, and R&D management. He has developed new business, both organically and via acquisition, across the globe including the emerging markets of China and recently India. His domestic investment experience includes collaboration with Grace/Horn Venture Partners.
Daniel Behr Director of Business Development (Cambridge Office)
Daniel Behr joined Harvard’s OTD in 2006. Prior to joining Harvard, Daniel worked for twenty years as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He was co-founder of IN USA (a company specializing in ozone instrumentation); Compact Instruments (specializing in research instruments); Arradiance (specializing in semiconductor lithography); and Growth Point Life Sciences (a company focused on accelerating the commercialization of intellectual property assets). Daniel also founded a seed-stage angel fund, Seed Partners, and has served as Director or advisor to several start-ups commercializing new medical devices, nanotechnologies, instruments, and software products. Daniel holds a BSE in engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Ashley J. Stevens - Executive Director, Office of Technology Transfer
Dr. Stevens has been Director of the B.U. Office of Technology Transfer since 1995 and was appointed a Lecturer in the School of Management in 2005, where he teaches a graduate level, inter-disciplinary course on Technology Commercialization.
Dr. Stevens has worked in the biotechnology industry since 1982, with both start-up companies and academic organizations, to assist in turning promising scientific ideas into useful products and companies. Before joining Boston University, he was Director of the Office of Technology Transfer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School. Prior to that, he was Co-founder of Kytogenics, Inc., of which he is still a Director, Co-Founder and General Manager of Genmap, Inc., and was Vice President of Business Development for BioTechnica International. He started his career with The Procter & Gamble Company, where he held a number of positions in sales, marketing, strategic planning and acquisitions.
Since he joined Boston University, the Office of Technology Transfer has grown to a total of eight professionals and spun out over 40 companies based on the University’s research, some of which have raised substantial amounts of capital, and the University’s licensing income has climbed steadily.
Dr. Stevens publishes and lectures frequently on many aspects of technology transfer. He is very active with the Association of University Technology Managers, most recently as Vice President, Annual Meeting and Surveys. He was a Co-Founder of the Massachusetts Association of Technology Transfer Offices and was the first Chair of its Executive Committee, leading the effort to create the Massachusetts Technology Portal.
Dr. Stevens holds a Bachelor of Arts in Natural Sciences, and a Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy in Physical Chemistry from Oxford University.
ORGANIZER:
Paul Zavracky - Dean of School for Technological Entrepreneurship - Northeastern University
Professor Zavracky obtained his Ph.D. in Solid State Physics at Tufts University in 1984 and an MS degree at Northeastern University in 1975. He has extensive experience both in material and device technology. Professor Zavracky holds over 30 patents on material and device fabrication. Dr. Zavracky joined Northeastern University in January of 1991. He has been responsible for initiating a research program aimed at the development of microsensor fabrication techniques. This program specializes in bulk micromachining (accelerometer), silicon on insulator(SOI) sensors, and nickel plated surface micromachined structures (spectrometer and microrelays). Prior to joining Northeastern, Zavracky was the Chief Operating Officer of Kopin Corporation where he managed the operations of the company, and coordinated sales and manufacturing activities for Kopin's Solar, SOI and GaAs products. While at Kopin, he spearheaded drive to establish Kopin's SOI materials capability as a potentially enabling technology for Flat Panel Development in the US.
Between 1980 and 1985, Zavracky established a microsensor program and facility at The Foxboro Company. He helped design and supervise the construction of a 3000 sq ft class 100 clean room facility. His program was aggressively aimed at creating micromechanical structures in silicon, quartz and metals. During this period, Dr. Zavracky developed such diverse devices as silicon resonant hollow beam pressure sensors, quartz double tuning fork force sensors, and silicon piezoresistive pressure sensors. Prior to Foxboro, Zavracky spent five years a Coulter Information Systems were he developed a series of electrophotographic films for use in the copier, lithographic and image storage industries. The work focused on CVD and sputter deposited electrophotographic materials including CdS, CdTe and amorphous Silicon. He also spent 5 years at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
At Northeastern, his group is developing silicon micromachined sensors including accelerometers, pressure sensors and gas sensors. Devices under investigation include a bulk micromachined accelerometer being fabricated under contract from Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This device employs a tunneling tip to enable sensitivity to accelerations as small as 10-8g. A thin single crystalline silicon diaphragm pressure sensor is being fabricated in collaboration with Kopin Corporation and The Foxboro Company. Silicon-on-Insulator wafers are used in the process and promise high temperature smart sensor operations.
