Charge to the Task Force on University Collaboration with Industry: Developing the mission and framework for University-wide engagement with industry
From Dr. Jean Morrison, University Provost and Chief Academic Officer
and Dr. Gloria Waters, Vice President and Associate Provost for Research
Background
Interaction with industry is an important component of the research, innovation and development activity of universities. The passage of the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980 created an additional incentive for universities to secure patent protection for inventions resulting from federally funded research, as well as to engage with industry. As a result, many universities have established offices to help move discoveries made by faculty from research laboratories to the marketplace, with the goal of creating innovative products, producing jobs and contributing to American economic competitiveness and technological leadership. These institutional offices are generally charged with patenting and licensing university inventions, as well as working with faculty to create start-ups to market their inventions.
With the challenging landscape around federal funding for research, there has been an increased emphasis on our interactions with industry. Faculty are interested in collaborating with industry both to secure additional funding for their work and to accelerate the translation of basic and applied research results into practical applications. Despite the desire of universities to disseminate university-generated discoveries for the public good, many universities have recognized that the traditional strategies for negotiating sponsored research and license agreements with industry are not producing the desired results. This has led some universities to re-think both their policies concerning intellectual property, as well as the organizational structure for the many units on campus that support interaction with industry. Consistent with this, the Association of American Universities (AAU) Working Group on Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property has recently encouraged universities to “develop and state a clear mission and vision for university management of intellectual property and [to] develop procedures and criteria for evaluating a university’s technology transfer units that do not rely solely on measuring revenue generation, but focus on aligning the work of these units with the research university’s core missions of discovery, learning and the promotion of social well-being.”
Currently, Boston University does not have a clearly articulated vision concerning intellectual property that is conveyed to internal and external stakeholders and against which we evaluate our progress. In addition, industry related activities are divided among disconnected groups in the University with different goals and metrics for success, making the efficiency and assessment of our efforts in this area difficult to achieve.
To guide us in our effort to shape the future of our interaction with industry to better achieve our academic and research goals, we are creating a Task Force on University Collaboration with Industry whose charge is to propose a unified vision that is relevant to, and in alignment with, the principal institutional missions of education and research. Thus, the charge to the Task Force is to focus on the higher-level mission and goals for our interaction with industry, rather than on the specific operations and leadership of our Office of Technology Development.
Charge to the Task Force
- Develop and state a clear mission and vision for University management of intellectual property as it relates to technology transfer and suggest procedures and criteria for evaluating our technology transfer efforts that do not rely solely on measuring revenue generation, but focus on aligning our work in this area with the University’s core missions of discovery, learning and the promotion of social well-being.
- Develop a programmatic and administrative framework for transforming our relationships with industry in ways that open up new research directions and educational and career development opportunities and establish new sources of sustainable funding.
- Develop a report that articulates what Boston University’s goals and mission should be with respect to collaboration with industry and that outlines the optimal organization, structure, and staffing model for meeting these goals.
In order to achieve the above, we are asking the Task Force to engage in broad consultation with the faculty and relevant staff of Boston University, as well as to explore the practices of high-quality research universities that have developed effective models of interacting with industry that have helped them achieve their academic and research goals.
Next Steps
We will meet with the Task Force on University Collaboration with Industry to discuss the charge and launch the effort. Our goal is for the Task Force to develop the vision and framework over the next several months and to have a report and recommendations by December 31, 2015, that we can begin to implement during the 2015-2016 academic year.
Please join us in thanking our colleagues who have agreed to serve on this important Task Force to work with you in shaping the future of our interaction with industry.
2015-2016 Task Force on University Collaboration with Industry
Chair:
Thomas Bifano, Director of the Boston University Photonics Center; and Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering
Members:
Rhoda Alani, Chief, Department of Dermatology, Boston Medical Center; Herbert Mescon Professor and Chair, Department of Dermatology, School of Medicine
Mark Crovella, Professor and Chair, Department of Computer Science, College of Arts & Sciences
Ravin Davidoff, Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer, Boston Medical Center; and Professor, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine
Kira Fabrizio, Associate Professor, Department of Strategy & Innovation, Questrom School of Business
Maurice R. Ferré, University Trustee
Gerald Fine, Director of the Engineering Product Innovation Center; and Professor of the Practice, Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering
Tim Gardner, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences; and Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering
Christopher Gill, Associate Professor, Department of Global Health, School of Public Health
David Harris, Professor and Chair, Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine
Catherine Klapperich, Director of the Center for Future Technologies in Cancer Care; and Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering
Darrell Kotton, Director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine; and Professor, Departments of Medicine and Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
Rebecca Norlander, University Overseer
Scott Schaus, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Arts & Sciences
Andre Sharon, Director of the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation; and Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering
Marshall Van Alstyne, Professor, Department of Information Systems, Questrom School of Business
Alice White, Professor and Chair, Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering
Wilson Wong, Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering