White House Announces Initiatives to Accelerate Commercialization

President Obama last week announced several initiatives aimed at spurring technology commercialization following the signing of the America Invents Act, including two new programs to assist biomedical entrepreneurs at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The administration also will develop a national plan focused on reforms to speed commercialization and open new markets. A blueprint outlining those efforts is due in January. Following is an overview of new and existing programs focused on accelerating commercialization:

• NIH will offer new license agreements for startup companies to reduce the cost and paperwork associated with obtaining patents related to drugs, vaccines or therapeutics in the NIH/FDA portfolio. Under the short-term Startup Evaluation License Agreement, which can be obtained for $2,000, small companies can apply for any of the available NIH patents and patent applications by submitting a business plan detailing how they propose to use them. Companies that are less than five years old, have fewer than 50 employees and receive investment of less than $5 million are eligible to apply beginning Oct. 1.
• NIH also will establish a new National Center for Advancing Translational Science to help industry shorten the time needed and reduce costs for developing new drugs and diagnostics.
• The United States Patent and Trademark Office, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Small Business Administration will pilot a program to provide comprehensive IP support to 100 NSF SBIR grant recipients and will engage external stakeholders to provide pro bono or low-cost IP services to awardees.
• The Coulter Foundation and NSF launched a competition to identify and promote incentives to adopt best practices that improve university commercialization efforts. The foundation also announced their selection of four universities to participate in a Translational Research Partnership Program where each university will create a $20 million endowment to foster research collaboration between biomedical engineers and clinicians.

In coordination with the bill signing, some of the more than 135 university presidents and chancellors who pledged in April to work with the administration to undertake greater efforts to advance regional and national economic growth reported on their recent activities. Read the full announcement.

Learn More about Accelerating the Commercialization of Research at SSTI's Conference
A dedicated breakout session during SSTI's 15th Annual Conference in November will examine commercialization of technologies out of universities and research institutions and the impact these efforts can have on local company formation. We'll examine two organizations that have broken down barriers between local institutions, and have helped create companies that can thrive within the regional economy. Learn more about the session...