Inventors and Entrepreneurs Shared Experience and Inspiration During the Young Academic Inventors Symposium and Panel Discussion in December 2022
Intellectual Property Partners (IPP) and the Stony Brook University Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) hosted the Young Academic Inventors Symposium and a panel discussion “From Bench to Boardroom: The Journey of Early Career Entrepreneurs”. The event was held in December 2022 virtually with more than 70 attendees from Stony Brook University joining the session to honor early-career inventors and to get insight on the inventors’ and entrepreneurs’ career paths shared by the keynote speaker and by the entrepreneurs - participants of the panel discussion.
“The technology development and commercialization process begins with the faculty, postdocs and graduate students that conduct fantastic research that forms a basis for new technology disclosures, intellectual property, technology licenses and startups,” said Dr. Sean Boykevisch, the Executive Director of the SBU Chapter of the NAI and Director of IPP. Dr. Boykevisch said the goal of the event was to inspire and advise early-career researchers who want to make an impact in technology and innovation in the future.
“There is no elevator to success: you have to take the stairs,” said Dr. Maria Badalamente. She shared this principle during her keynote address From Bench to Bedside or How I Got from Here to There. Dr. Badalamente, the owner of multiple patents and the inventor of Xiaflex™, a unique FDA-approved non-surgical Dupuytren Contracture treatment, knows about taking an invention from the lab to final consumers. Her own “stairs to success” were quite steep, and Dr. Badalamente eloquently spoke about those challenges and successes during her keynote.
The participants of the panel discussion “From Bench to Boardroom: The Journey of Early Career Entrepreneurs” were five stellar entrepreneurs who recognized an opportunity and successfully started their own ventures early in their careers, and who spoke about their own way to climb the “stairs to success”. During the lively and candid conversation, they shared their experiences of getting from the idea to the realization, spoke about the different types and sources of help that young entrepreneurs could look for, and gave some advice and inspiration to those who are just thinking about moving from research to the entrepreneurial path.
The Symposium also featured two young inventors, the recipients of the NAI Young Academic Inventors’ Award 2022, whose achievements early in academic career were truly outstanding. Dr. Yasha Karimi and Dr. Lei Wang, former SBU PhD students who have moved forward building their careers, presented the inventions they had been working on while at Stony Brook University.
“The joint event of IPP and NAI-SBU Chapter, featuring the 2023 Young Academic Inventor Award Symposium (NAI-SBU Chapter) and a panel discussion 'From Bench to Boardroom: The Journey of Early Career Entrepreneurs' (IPP), was very inspiring, informative and stimulating. Overall, the event was a great success,” said Dr. Iwao Ojima, the President of the SBU Chapter of NAI.
“Do you know that it was technological innovation that was responsible for 87% of economic growth in the U.S. between 1909 and 1949?” asked Peter Donnelly, Associate Vice President for Technology Partnership, who shared this figure from the research by Dr. Robert Solow, the Nobel prize winner in economy and the author of the theory of economic growth, in his opening remarks: nothing would illustrate the importance of technological innovation for the economy better than that.
Within their mission Stony Brook Intellectual Property Partners and the SBU Chapter of National Academy of Inventors are fostering the inventorship and technology innovation in the university community and encouraging conversion of the innovation for the benefit of the society.
The series of the IPP and NAI events is aimed to inspire, educate, and strengthen the Stony Brook University innovation community. The next event within the series is planned to be held in the late Summer 2023.