8/9/2019 Nina Ossanna Tech Transfer 2.0

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/nina-ossanna-tech-transfer-20 1/2

4th ERDT Conference, February 19, 2010, Manila, Philippines, ©2010, Nina Ossanna

1  BACKGROUND

The BIO5 Institute is located at the University of Arizona inTucson, Arizona, USA. BIO5 is a multidisciplinary,

collaborative life sciences institute that brings together the

five disciplines of engineering, medicine, pharmacy,

agriculture and basic science for new approaches to solving

  problems. The BIO5 Institute’s mission also includes

  promoting economic development through various

relationships with industry.

2  KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER AND THERESEARCH ENTERPRISE

Research enterprises create much new knowledge that is

disseminated for public good. There are various ways thatthis knowledge gets into the public domain. Firstly,

teaching activity results in knowledge transfer to students

that take their newfound knowledge to jobs in government,

academia and industry. Second, publishing research results

allows wide distribution to others via journals, the internet

and conferences. Thirdly, some research results can best

serve the public interest through creating industry ties and

developing intellectual property. For those research

  projects that can lead to new goods and services, often

significant additional investment in development must occur 

  before the new technology can reach the marketplace.

Asset creation by securing intellectual property protection

can incentivize industry to develop and sell novel products

  by providing a period of market exclusivity to encourage

investment.

3  BIO5 AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER Traditional technology transfer offices are generally

segregated from the research units in the campus setting.

Thus, the interaction with technology transfer officers is

infrequent and relatively structured. They operate in a

more reactive, than proactive way. That is, their 

involvement begins when the researcher submits an

invention report, rather than working with the researcher 

during the project. Thus the opportunity to advise and

  position the research for technology transfer to the private

sector is lost. This also makes it more difficult to engage

faculty in the technology transfer process or cultivate aculture of entrepreneurship.

The multidisciplinary, collaborative and translational nature

of BIO5 recognizes that integrating a business perspective

helps accomplish our translational and economic

development goals. To move beyond traditional

technology transfer, BIO5 has invested in embedding an

experienced bioindustry business development and

technology transfer resource within the research unit to

assist in asset creation and engaging industry during the

research process. I call this new approach technology

transfer 2.0.

The bioindustry resource provides numerous services to the

researchers, community and private sector seeking to work 

with BIO5. The benefits include providing intellectual

  property advice, market perspective, networking to access

other resources in the greater community, accessing industry

and smoothing the cultural differences as well as assisting

with start-up company creation. At the research level, the

unit provides intellectual property advice to the project.

This may include patent searching to define patentable areas

of research, advice on patentability or requirements for 

obtaining patents. Also, bringing a market perspective to

the research project enhances the application of research to

real world needs. For example, patentability may require

additional experiments to be conducted or proof of principle

studies to be performed. Selecting proof of principal

examples that address a particular market need enhances the

value of the research in the eyes of the market.

Interacting and collaborating with industry and community

groups is key to moving research projects out of the institute.

For example, start-up companies require much more than a

license from the institution, such as access to incubator 

resources, management, legal services, space, funding, local

industry groups, etc. The business function serves as a

TECH TRANSFER 2.0: EMBEDDING TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER IN THE

ACADEMIC RESEARCH ENTERPRISE 

Nina OSSANNA, PhD¹

¹ University of Arizona, BIO5 Institute, Office of Technology Transfer, Tucson, Arizona, USA

nossanna@arizona.edu

Abstract: The BIO5 Institute is a multidisciplinary research institute focused on life science research. The Institute’s

mission includes translating research into real world applications. To help accomplish that goal, BIO5 has a dedicated

 biobusiness function allowing a market perspective to be integrated into a research program for ultimate translation to public

 benefit. This function optimizes a “market pull” orientation for transfer of technology out of the Institute.

 Key words : BIO5 Institute, technology transfer, university industry relations

8/9/2019 Nina Ossanna Tech Transfer 2.0

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/nina-ossanna-tech-transfer-20 2/2

4th ERDT Conference, February 19, 2010, Manila, Philippines, ©2010, Nina Ossanna

clearing house for identifying such resources for budding

companies. For interactions with industry, assistance with

identifying potential partners, providing business advice and

smoothing the cultural differences help create successful

 partnerships for BIO5.

4  EXAMPLE

BIO5’s Drug Discovery Initiative is an example of anintegrated approach to asset creation. This Initiative was

undertaked to exploit a new molecular target allowing new

drugs to be discovered for cancer and cardiovascular disease.

An executive management structure was constituted to

  provide overall direction and coordination of the research

team, which comprises two seasoned scientific researchers

and the BIO5 business person. The multidisciplinary

research team is comprised of medicinal, analytical and

computational chemists, molecular biologists and

  pharmacologists. The goal is to create a valuable asset for 

transfer out of the research institute to the private sector for 

clinical development in patients. This requires that the

research be managed in a more business-like fashion, with

specific milestones to accomplish the goals, confidentiality

among the team and coordinating publications with patent

filings. The drugs being developed are novel, with patent

literature searches integrated into the research process, thus

allowing valuable patent protection to be obtained. A

start-up company has been incorporated that will continue

development once an optimized lead compound has been

identified and the proof of principle studies completed. By

this approach, we expect the valuable asset to attract the

 private sector investment needed and also return money to

the program to continue the drug development program.

The ultimate goal, however, is the public benefit of newdrugs for currently intractable disease.