Unshackle Inventors from University Licensing Offices, to Meet President Obama’s Challenge to ‘Encourage American Innovation,’ Says IP Advocate Founder Dr. Renee Kaswan

Faculty Inventors Need Freedom of Choice When Commercializing Inventions

--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--IP Advocate:

“why not free up the market in technology licensing?”

WHAT:	Successful innovator Dr. Renee Kaswan, inventor of the blockbuster drug Restasis®, says our nation can’t meet President Obama’s challenge to “encourage American innovation” – as put forth in the State of the Union address – while the status quo allows promising new ideas and technologies to languish at universities.
	“Many of our best ideas and inventions begin at the university level, yet the system to move those ideas into products and services that will benefit society is flawed,” said Dr. Renee Kaswan, founder of IP Advocate, former research professor at the University of Georgia and inventor of the widely used drug Restasis^®. “I support the ideas articulated by the Kauffman Foundation – that academic inventors should have more freedom of choice in commercialization partners. That would help move inventions to the marketplace more efficiently.”
WHY:	In a recent Harvard Business Review article, the Kauffman Foundation suggests that control of research commercialization decisions be shared with the inventors responsible for that research. Kauffman's proposed strategy would enable faculty inventors to choose which agency (university-affiliated or not) they would work with to commercialize their innovation. This differs from current practice, where the decisions on how to commercialize intellectual property – resulting from an annual federal R&D budget of $150 billion – are managed exclusively through the resident university technology transfer office.
	The Kauffman Foundation calls the status quo “a monopolistic model” and “a major impediment” to innovation and asks, “why not free up the market in technology licensing?" The Foundation predicts that allowing faculty to choose their licensing agent will lead to competition, specialization and greater overall efficiency in translating the nation's research investments into innovations for societal benefit.
WHEN:	Dr. Renee Kaswan is available immediately to discuss these issues in more detail.
HOW:	To speak with Dr. Kaswan, contact:
	Ken Greenberg, Edge Communications, Inc.
	[e-mail], [phone]
	For more information about the challenges facing academic inventors when commercializing their work, visit http://www.IPAdvocate.org.
WHO:	Dr. Renee Kaswan is founder of the non-profit organization, IP Advocate (www.IPAdvocate.org), inventor of the billion-dollar drug Restasis®, founder of Georgia Veterinary Specialists and former University of Georgia Veterinary Ophthalmology professor. Her patented treatment for chronic dry-eye remains the most profitable invention in UGA’s history and has been hailed as one of the “University Innovations that Changed the World” by the University of Virginia Patent Foundation. Dr. Kaswan was recognized by the University of Georgia as its “Inventor of the Year” in 1998 and received UGA’s Creative Research Medal in 1992.