AUTM 2008 Annual Meeting Highlights

The AUTM 2008 Annual Meeting, Changing Horizons, celebrated the growth and change taking place within the industry and at the meeting itself. Many Annual Meeting survey respondents commented on the quality of the sessions and workshops, the networking opportunities, the exhibit hall and the plenary speakers among the highlights.

“It's great to actually have sessions that directly apply to my work!”

“Came home with a grip on how to proceed for our company”

“Speaking with seasoned professionals and receiving words of encouragement for the novice”

87% of survey respondents visited the Exhibits/Networking Fair & Technology Exchange

Attendees took advantage of the many networking opportunities available at the Annual Meeting.

Career Development Forum attendees discussed challenges and opportunities of a technology transfer career.

"Career development is important to everyone at all stages of career, one of the assets AUTM has is the openness of the people and the realization that most individuals are going to move around in this field, career development should always have a place at AUTM functions"
-2008 annual meeting attendee

The Innovation Showcases provided attendees with a glimpse of emerging technologies.

Patrick L. Jones (left) passed the gavel to AUTM’s new President, Jon Soderstrom during the opening Plenary Session.

The AUTM Band, The Infringers, received the 2008 President’s Award for their extraordinary service to AUTM. Peggy Halliday and Joe Koepnick accepted the award.

The Bayh-Dole Award is given to those who have been ardent supporters of the practice of technology transfer. The 2008 Bayh-Dole Award recipient was Andrew Cohn of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

Howard Bremer personally acknowledged the five recipients of this year’s Howard Bremer Scholarship: Sabarni Chatterjee, Jaideep Goswami, Mikael Herlevsen, Baidehi Mukherjee, and Avni Rambhia. The scholarship’s objective is to foster educational opportunities for individuals who are committed the vision of academic technology transfer and are newcomers in the field.

Carlos Aguiar, Brazil, was one of five recipients of the Developing Economies Scholarship. Other recipients included: Jacqueline Barnett, South Africa; Marcelo Vasquez, Chile; Guillermo Augusto Mendez, Chile; and Aletta Johanna Nel, South Africa.

Plenary Session Recap

This year’s Plenary Sessions were among the most talked about features of the Annual Meeting. Here, AUTM member Sandra Shotwell provides a recap of the presentations.

According to Ira Flatow, Host of NPR’s Talk of the Nation: Science Friday, “Luck favors the prepared mind.” Flatow took the opening plenary crowd at the 2008 Annual AUTM meeting on a grand tour of almost serendipitous patented inventions, from microwave ovens (a melted candybar in a radar specialist’s pocket?) to algae fields generating electricity.

“The new red/white and blue is Green,” said Flato, encouraging universities to look at their green and energy conservation technologies to take advantage of a flood of public and private investments. He sees the dream of energy independence becoming reality through innovative solutions, many coming from university research.

Following up on a claim that the sunlight falling on 10% of the state of Nevada could power every household in the United States, Flatow touched on several approaches – solar reflectors flashing water into steam, parabolic reflectors heating salt to 700 degrees, and oil extraction from algae for biofuels. His advice to innovation managers? Be ready for your 15 minutes of fame: know what you want to talk about, practice your talking points, and (this addressed to a question from Ashley Stevens), "Learn to speak English!" And if you visit his Science Friday avatar on Second Life, you might win a free T-shirt.

"We have a fantastic story to tell," said James C. Greenwood , President and CEO, Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). Greenwood used university-developed products commercialized by BIO companies to tout the industry’s successful innovations in health, agriculture and the environment. He highlighted the visions and goals BIO shares with AUTM members as he described a major communication effort BIO is rolling out to capture public's imagination and support.

Though Greenwood was not one of the folks at the AUTM Annual Meeting wearing a straw hat boosting AUTM's Public Policy efforts, he pointed out the clear parallels as the two organizations mobilize to get the message out in support of their critical roles in innovation.

Shifting focus from the $50 billion dollars detractors seek to remove from the profits of the industry by lowering drug prices (coincidentally, just about its R&D budget in the United States), he pointed out the $150 billion he said could be saved by a 10% reduction in chronic disease. Greenwood praised AUTM’s Better World Project, and invited AUTM’s support and partnership in helping the next president and the people of this country understand what we can do to address global challenges.

Joseph Siino, Senior Vice President, Global Intellectual Property and Business Strategy, Yahoo! Inc., gave a presentation from the perspective of the Information Technology (IT) industry. Without directly acknowledging that IT and AUTM sit on opposite sides of the fence erected by patent reform, Siino built a case for a strong, clear patent system less subject to uncertainty and litigation as critical to support of IP’s significant share of market value and GDP.

As creators of core IP, he sees universities as more relevant to companies than ever before. Like Greenwood, Siino called for partnership between his industry and universities, praising the Nine Points to Consider in Licensing University Technology, and calling for a long-term perspective based on more than short term gain.

Perhaps the most interesting comment came from an audience question: “Should we drop the concept of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ patent system?” Siino supported this concept, acknowledging the value of the patent system in the biotech space, and supporting efforts consider different approaches for different industries. (Current examples include the Orphan Drug Act and the Hatch Waxman Act.) 

He concluded his talk with calls for valuable partnerships like ones Yahoo! is developing that share its 500 million user “laboratory” with universities, and with admonitions to avoid the pitfalls of blocking innovation by working with patent trolls. 

Shotwell has been attending AUTM meetings since becoming a member in 1985. She has served on several AUTM committees as well as the AUTM Board, and her professional experience includes private, public and federal laboratory technology transfer as well as private industry. She lives and works in Portland, Ore.

Be sure to mark your calendar for the 2009 Annual Meeting Feb. 12-14 in Orlando, Florida.