Motivating Questions
The four motivating questions for the workshop were:
How can the systemic gaps, barriers, and other failure points that limit the translation of early-stage discovery research out of academic and non-profit institutions into market and societal impact be effectively understood and addressed, particularly for deep technologies?
What is missing from the current U.S. innovation ecosystem that limits the ability to maximize the translation potential of deep technologies from the earliest stages of discovery to commercialization?
How should challenges and interventions be prioritized to ensure that resources are directed toward the most tractable and high-impact opportunities for improving research translation?
What frameworks, tools, or coordinating mechanisms could support sustained collaboration across academia, government, industry, and investors to evolve this work and track progress over time? Put another way, are there specific individuals and organizations who can help bridge specific gaps in the lab-to-market pathways, and how might they work together to help teams overcome these gaps and accelerate the process of commercialization or other impact?
Workshop Organizing Committee
The workshop organizing committee included:
Rob A. Rutenbar (Chair), Senior Vice Chancellor for Research, University of Pittsburgh;
Ira Bennett, Director, Faculty Engagement Lead, Office of Vice President of Research Development, Arizona State University;
Joan Gabel, Chancellor, University of Pittsburgh;
Michael J. Holland, Vice Chancellor for Science Policy & Research Strategy, University of Pittsburgh;
Lesley Millar-Nicholson, Executive Director of MIT's Technology Licensing Office;
Susan A. Martinis, Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; and
Karl V. Steiner, Vice President for Research & Creative Achievement, University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
Under the guidance of the organizing committee, Deborah Stine, Founder of the Science and Technology Policy Academy, wrote the forthcoming workshop report. The executive summary is available.
This workshop and its report were sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation Award Number 2614158 to the University of Pittsburgh of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education.