Schedule

Schedule-at-a-Glance*

September 27-28, 2023
Hyatt Regency Newport Beach
Newport Beach, CA
*Tentative schedule, program subject to change

	Wednesday, September 27
7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.	Registration
8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.	Welcome & Opening General Session - From Research to Entrepreneurship to Impact: Beyond STEM For those of us who are not part of a STEM school or department, most of our students will never co-found a startup; so, should we care about, or teach entrepreneurship? If many investors want only to invest in technology like new drugs, devices, and other comparable products, how would entrepreneurship be achieved successfully for the social sciences? In the feverish push for new technologies to bring about economic opportunities, many of us have forgotten the essence of entrepreneurship: a risk-tolerant set of new perspectives and ways to solve problems. By doing so we have left non-STEM disciplines out of the entrepreneurship equation at universities and colleges. The reality is that nearly all big problems we face, from climate change to homelessness to disinformation on the Internet, require solutions and leadership beyond the STEM space. It is not too late to rebalance this picture. By focusing on societal impact through entrepreneurship, we can bring non-STEM researchers and students to critical roles they can, and should, play, to change the world. Come to this unique session and compare notes with leaders from social impact-focused innovation and entrepreneurship practitioners in non-STEM areas including social sciences, arts, humanities, education, and public health, and share all our experiences, tools, and resources.
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.	Networking Break
10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.	Concurrent Sessions: The Microbiome: Opportunities and Strategies for Technology Transfer The microbiome is receiving increasing attention as research in the field continues to progress with commercial opportunities emerging in human health, agribusiness, and other areas. This session's panel will showcase a diverse range of opportunities that are leveraging research in this space, and will cover issues unique to the field for intellectual property protection and licensing. Academic Venture Funds A growing number of academic institutions are creating and deploying venture funds, or doing so collaboratively with others, to support faculty startups and other commercial enterprises bringing university technology to the market. This is a step beyond the gap funding approaches that many institutions have developed for smaller grants to faculty and students, and brings additional venture structures into the technology transfer ecosystem that are specifically geared for companies emerging from the academic environment. This session's panel will describe a variety of these funds and their approaches to supporting university spinouts.
11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.	Lunch
12:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.	Concurrent Sessions: Biomanufacturing Facilities at Universities and Academic Medical Centers Several institutions in the western region and across the country have developed biomanufacturing facilities that enable cell therapies, induced pluripotent stem cells, other biological materials to be produced for use in bench research, and early-stage clinical trials. This enables the institutions to significantly advance and de-risk technologies developed by their researchers, while also offering services to the community at large that can facilitate a range of collaborations, and creates a number of unique technology transfer and clinical research issues with related opportunities that will be discussed by the session's panel. Climate Change and New Approaches to Technology Transfer Addressing the big challenges of climate change requires big solutions. Academic research is bringing promising new advances for alternative energy and biofuels, reduction in greenhouse gases, and a host of additional applications. But, technologies in this space don’t always fit conventional technology transfer paradigms, requiring creative approaches to licensing and further developing technologies for commercial deployment. This session's panel will describe some of the efforts in this field and will cover a number of approaches used in technology transfer to structure deals with industry.
2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.	Concurrent Sessions: Development and Licensing of Immunotherapy Technologies Immunotherapy has become a centerpiece of research and treatment options for patients, primarily in oncology. Academic institutions and companies located in the western region have had a leading role in this important field. This session's panel will describe some of the groundbreaking work done in the western region, a number of technology transfer challenges and successes, and what leading institutions in the field believe to be coming next. Technology Transfer at National Labs More than half of the Dept. of Energy’s national laboratories are located in the western region bringing important resources and capabilities to complement local academic research. This session's panel will describe the labs’ approaches to collaborating with academic institutions, the unique issues they manage from a technology transfer perspective, and the programs they contribute to the ecosystem.
3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.	Networking Break
4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.	Balancing Research Security and Innovation Competitiveness in Licensing Continued dialogue regarding concerns over US economic competitiveness and security interests are guiding the development of new policies that govern licensing practices of federally funded technologies. This session will describe how DOE has been addressing concerns from Congress, this Administration, and the public regarding the foreign acquisition of important or sensitive federally funded technologies. Recent developments in policy and potential future outlook will also be described.
5:15 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.	Opening Reception Connecting with colleagues and industry pros has never been easier. Bring business cards!

	Thursday, September 28
7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.	Registration
8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.	Tech Transfer Insights and Trends from the Experts Join us for this special session with key thought leaders and AUTM supporters who will share insights and strategies they have helped Tech Transfer Offices implement. Hear how those same strategies might help your office too.
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.	Networking Break
10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.	Modifying University License and Other Collaborative Agreements in Light of the New European Patent System Since the beginning of 2022, there has been a great deal of discussion about the basics of the new European patent system which, after years of delay, is scheduled to become a reality on 1 June 2023. One extremely important aspect of the new system, that has received insufficient attention, is the effect that this will have on the dynamics between licensors and licensees as well as parties to inter-institutional agreements. During this session, the speakers can review specific template language in various types of agreements and explain how such agreements can be modified effectively and efficiently to take the new European patent system into account.
11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.	Lunch
12:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.	Leveraging the University-Venture Capitalist Relationship Interaction between university tech transfer offices and venture capital firms has grown considerably over recent years. Some venture capitalist firms have significant presence on campus, through managing/financing incubators and hosting educational events. This panel will discuss the benefits of working closely with venture capitalist firms, the potential conflicts that may arise, and how to best manage the relationship to maximize positive outcomes for the university. The panelists will further discuss how university licensing officers can learn to think and evaluate IP like a venture capitalist. For example, there are many situations where the technology might be commercially valuable, but faculty are not interested in doing a start-up. Insights from venture capitalists may shed light on how to evaluate such IP.
2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.	Core R&D Facilities, IP, and Startups: How Universities Use Research Infrastructure Commons to Drive Startups, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship This session highlights the Research Infrastructure Commons (RIC), an initiative to create a network of shared core R&D facilities at universities that use standardized agreements with business-friendly terms and expedited workflow.
3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.	Networking Break
4:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.	Chat GPT & Other Generative Ais, How to Build A Plan to Use and MonetizeWith Chat GPT, Dall-E and other generative AI’s flooding the market and promising to disrupt creative industries, it is important to understand what they can do, what they can’t do, and what they will likely be doing in the future. A lot of startups are being developed and research being done on cloning or connecting with the APIs to generate new creative content. Learn about the technology, the IP barriers, and how to develop a monetization strategy of working with AI Chat.

Gold Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

LevelSet Capital

Contributing Sponsors

Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP

PattersonSheridan