The Journey to Impact

The Journey to Impact features insights from BU Technology Development.

Technology Development helps BU researchers bring technology and other research breakthroughs to the marketplace to increase their impact through programs and workshops, one-on-one consulting with faculty, educational resources, and community building among BU innovators.


Nominate the BU Innovator of the Year

We are once again seeking nominations for BU Innovator of the Year. The Innovator of the Year Award, presented annually by BU Technology Development, recognizes an outstanding faculty member who has translated world-class research into an invention or innovation that benefits humankind.  We invite faculty, staff, and students to submit nominations by Friday, More

Providing Doctoral Students Business Skills for Whatever Profession They May Pursue

Alexander Gold, a PhD candidate in microbiology at BU, described as “transformative” his time participating in BU Technology Development’s OTD Analyst program. Mengjie Yuan, a PhD candidate in BU’s School Medicine, described her participation in the Analyst program as a “very important experience for me”— one that helped her gain a... More

Equity Conversations Between PIs and Graduate Students

Negotiating an Equity Split with Your PI It can be the most fraught of conversations. A graduate student working on research that shows commercial promise seeks a sit-down with his or her principal investigator (PI) about starting a company. How does that grad student or post-doc broach the topic of a... More

You Have an Idea for Impact. What’s Next?

Q&A with Rana K. Gupta, Director of Faculty Entrepreneurship Rana K. Gupta formerly served as director of faculty entrepreneurship at Boston University. You are the Director of Faculty Entrepreneurship, but I’ve heard you say that you don’t like to use the word entrepreneurship. Why is that? I know from working with researchers for... More

The Window is Never Closing on Customer Need

Rana K. Gupta formerly served as director of faculty entrepreneurship at Boston University, co-reporting to Technology Development and Innovate@BU. He helped BU researchers bring technology and other research breakthroughs to the marketplace to increase their impact. He also managed BU’s Ignition Award program, which offers faculty commercialization funding. Situation #1: When I first became a CEO... More

Photo of Steven Borkan

The Journey to Impact: A Passion for Helping AKI Patients

An interview with Steven C. Borkan, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine at BU, and Attending Physician at Boston Medical Center. The following discussion with Dr. Steven C. Broken took place at our BU Innovator of the Year Award event — where he explained his focus on treating acute kidney injury, his... More

The Journey to Impact: Watch Your Language

Are you working on an idea to impact a customer, audience, or market? (Since we have policy people in the audience whose “market” is the government, let’s define “market" as the audience you wish to adopt your idea.) Whether you plan to start a company, license to a third party, or... More

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