By: Judy Lowry
NAI Communications

TAMPA, Fla.–The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and the National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer (NCET2) have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to promote innovation and entrepreneurship.

The agreement provides a formal basis for the two organizations to collaborate on educational activities and outreach on the value and importance of innovation and patents, and to recognize and support inventors affiliated with academic, federal, and nonprofit research institutions. The MOU provides for the organizations to be Association Partners and actively participate in each one's annual meetings.

"We are delighted to join with NCET2 as we work together to raise the stature of inventors and invention in the United States," said Paul R. Sanberg, president of the National Academy of Inventors, and senior vice president for research and innovation at the University of South Florida.

Sanberg will deliver a keynote address at NCET2's 7th annual University Startups Showcase and Conference, to be held Mar. 20-22, 2013, at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. The NAI is an Association Sponsor of the meeting.

"The University Startups Conference is a unique best practices conference series dedicated to creating and funding globally-competitive, venture-backable university startups," said Tony Stanco, executive director of NCET2. "We bring together universities creating startups with VCs, angel investors, SBIR program managers and Global 1000 companies funding them."

This year's conference, entitled "Corporate Venture Capital and University Startups: An Open Innovation Paradigm," focuses on "Getting Your University Startup Funded."

The conference will feature two innovations this year:

On Mar. 21, the Corporate Reverse Showcase will give participants the opportunity to hear from major Global 1000 companies as they talk about technologies and strategic alliances they seek from university startup creation officials and university startup entrepreneurs. It is intended to provide an efficient and productive model for Global 1000 companies to find exactly what they are looking for from the $35 billion in annual federally funded research and over 600 university startups created at universities each year.
On Mar. 22, the University Startups & SBIR Company Showcase will highlight university startups and SBIR companies designated as among the "very best" by NCET2. The showcase has been specifically created to catalyze transactions with the Global 1000, VCs, angel investors and SBIR program managers at the conference. Annually, universities receive $35 billion from the federal government to conduct cutting-edge research from which universities create approximately 600 university startups each year.

"One of the goals of the conference is to create long-term relationships between the universities and either users of university inventions or funders of university startups," said Stanco. "The audience, which includes VCs, angel investors, corporate scouts, and high-level university officials with responsibility for commercialization and startup creation, is comprised of knowledgeable practitioners who are generally qualified to be on the stage themselves (and many of them have been before)."

For more information on the conference, go to http://ncet2.org or email support@ncet2.org.

About the National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer

NCET2 is an organization of entrepreneurial universities creating and funding university startups. NCET2 promotes best practices in the creation and funding of university startups by supporting entrepreneurship and providing entrepreneurial education. NCET2 connects investors, economic development organizations, public and private funds and tech transfer professionals in building communities of innovation at universities. NCET2 provides an annual conference for innovation stakeholders to share experiences and create a constructive dialog on how to best work together.

TAMPA, Fla. (Mar. 5, 2013)— Nearly 200 renowned inventors and innovators from more than 60 universities, research institutes and governmental agencies worldwide gathered recently for the second annual meeting of the National Academy of Inventors, held at the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa. 

A highlight of the event was the induction by Margaret Focarino, U.S. Commissioner for Patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), of the NAI Charter Fellows—101 top scientists and innovation leaders from 56 research universities and non-profit research institutes, who collectively hold over 3,200 patents.  Almost half of the Fellows were in attendance to be inducted and receive a trophy, rosette pin and certificate. 

Focarino held up a plaque engraved with the names and institutions of the fellows and described how the plaque will hang at the USPTO and each subsequent year a plaque listing the name and institution of each NAI Fellow will be on display at the USPTO federal building in Alexandria, Virginia.

The NAI Charter Fellows and their institutions were also recognized in the Congressional Record of the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 28, 2013, in an Extension of Remarks by Congressman Gus M. Bilirakis.

Elizabeth Dougherty, USPTO director of Inventor Education, Outreach & Recognition, hailed the NAI as an organization that can “help to shape new policies, ones that offer new opportunities for students but also respect the longstanding and important research and development endeavors that universities support and rightfully retain control over.”

“Universities that encourage intellectual property by opening the doors immediately to inventorship will be the ones that attract the greatest talent,” she said.

The meeting featured presentations by experts in science, technology, invention and commercialization, who shared research and insights on topics ranging from new disruptive technologies such as wireless technology used in medical applications and the process of moving technology from the lab to the market, to the Affordable Care Act and its potential impact on drug development and “tech transfer from Saturn to your cell phone.” 

Robert Langer, the acclaimed MIT chemical engineer who has over 800 patents and is one of only three Americans to have won both the United States National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, challenged an audience that included students and seasoned inventors to “find a way that works” in bringing their inventions to market, regardless of skeptics.

In a keynote address that preceded the NAI Fellows induction, Focarino described how the USPTO has undergone “a renaissance in the past few years” with the passage and implementation of the America Invents Act (AIA), which aligns the U.S. patent system with the rest of the world. 

The goal of the AIA, said Focarino, is for “any inventor, particularly those here in the U.S., to be able to protect his or her invention throughout the world.”  She discussed how the USPTO is working to prevent the theft of intellectual property and subsequent reverse engineering of American technology that is then patented and sold in other parts of the world.

“Would Thomas Edison Receive Tenure?”

A lively forum on changing the academic culture of tenure and promotion featured five top university leaders debating the evolution taking place in the academic world around recognizing the increasing importance of patenting and commercializing university research.

The panel included Mory Gharib, vice provost for Research at California Institute of Technology, Eric Kaler, president of the University of Minnesota, Richard Marchase, vice president for Research and former interim president of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Timothy Sands, provost of Purdue University. 

The fifth member of the panel, Patrick Harker, president of the University of Delaware, said that while tenure “is about letting faculty speak the truth,” accountability is crucial. “Faculty have to do important stuff,” he said. In making the decision to award tenure, universities should focus on impact, and ask: “Are you working on important things, and do they make a difference?”

 “The rapid growth of the NAI is a direct reflection of how critical academic invention has become,” said NAI president Paul Sanberg, who is also USF’s senior vice president for Research & Innovation.  “Commercializing patents, spinning off new companies, building products, and creating high paying jobs have to become as much a part of a university’s mission as educating a high tech workforce for its state and the nation.”

“Investments in research pay off,” said USF President Judy Genshaft. “Inventors are building a resilient economy for the next century.”

TAMPA, Fla. (Jan. 28, 2013)— Paul R. Sanberg, Ph.D., D.Sc., has been appointed by the U.S. acting secretary of commerce Rebecca M. Blank to the nomination evaluation committee for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Sanberg is founder and president of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), and senior vice president for research and innovation at the University of South Florida.

The National Medal of Technology and Innovation is the highest honor awarded by the United States for technological achievement and is presented annually by the president. In describing the 2012 medal recipients, President Obama said: "They represent the ingenuity and imagination that has long made this Nation great—and they remind us of the enormous impact a few good ideas can have when these creative qualities are unleashed in an entrepreneurial environment."

The medal's small independent evaluation committee, comprised of experts in science, technology, business and patent law, reviews nominations and recommends candidates to the secretary of commerce, who in turn makes recommendations to the president.

Sanberg is also Distinguished University Professor and executive director of the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair at USF. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has authored approximately 600 scientific publications, and is an inventor on 100 health-related U.S. and foreign patents. In addition to academics, Sanberg has significant biotech and pharmaceutical industry experience.

About the National Academy of Inventors
The National Academy of Inventors® is a 501c3 non-profit organization comprised of more than 45 U.S. and international universities and non-profit research institutes, with over 2,000 individual academic inventor members, and growing rapidly. It was founded in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors with a patent issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society. The NAI publishes a newsletter and edits the multidisciplinary journal, Technology and Innovation – Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors, published by Cognizant Communication Corporation (NY). www.academyofinventors.org

TAMPA, Fla. (Jan. 4, 2013)—The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) has named 101 innovators to NAI Charter Fellow status, representing 56 prestigious research universities and non-profit research institutes.

Collectively, the new Fellows hold more than 3,200 U.S. patents.

Included in the Charter class are eight Nobel Laureates, two Fellows of the Royal Society, 14 presidents of research universities and non-profit research institutes, 53 members of the National Academies (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine), 11 inductees of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, five recipients of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, four recipients of the National Medal of Science, and 31 AAAS Fellows, among other major awards and distinctions.

Election to NAI Fellow status is a high professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society.

The NAI Charter Fellows will be inducted as Fellows by the U.S. Commissioner for Patents, Margaret A. Focarino, from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), during the 2nd Annual Conference of the National Academy of Inventors, on Feb. 22, 2013, in Tampa, Fla., at the Embassy Suites Hotel in the University of South Florida Research Park. Fellows will be presented with a special trophy and a rosette pin.

"The USPTO and the NAI work closely together to promote innovation and support inventors, and I am delighted to be inducting this charter class of outstanding academic innovators," said Focarino.

In his keynote address at the NAI's inaugural conference last February, David Kappos, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, said: "The NAI is a breakthrough for our country. It couldn't be more timely to have an organization like this to be championing innovation."

The NAI Charter Fellows will be recognized with a full page announcement in The Chronicle of Higher Education on Jan. 18, 2013, in the Jan. 2013 issue of Inventors Digest, and in a future issue of Technology and Innovation – Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors.

The academic inventors and innovators elected to the rank of NAI Charter Fellow are named inventors on U.S. patents and were nominated for outstanding contributions to innovation in areas such as patents and licensing, innovative discovery and technology, significant impact on society, and support and enhancement of innovation.

The NAI Fellows Selection Committee was comprised of recipients of National Medals, a National Inventors Hall of Fame inductee, 14 members from the National Academies, senior officials from the USPTO, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), and the United Inventors Association, and leaders from several research universities.

"The scope of new thinking and new products represented by the NAI Charter Fellows is a profound example of the power of academic innovation and invention," said Todd Sherer, president of AUTM and associate vice president for research administration at Emory University, an NAI member institution.

The 2012 NAI Charter Fellows are listed here: http://www.academyofinventors.org/charter-fellows.asp.