New Maryland Chapter of the Licensing Executives Society: Great for Entrepreneur Faculty, Great for Tech Transfer

The Licensing Executives Society (LES) is a professional association whose mission includes the further advancement of best practices in licensing, business development, and intellectual property (IP) management. Its membership includes business development professionals from corporations, government, and academia and associated business service professionals such as patent attorneys, accounting firm executives involved in such activities as IP valuation and asset management, those involved in new entity formation based on technology or IP assets, e.g. venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs.

Why would this be important or of interest to JHU Faculty? Because the more opportunity for licensing and business development professionals in Maryland have to interact, the greater the potential for more effective technology transfer not only from JHU but from all the Maryland entities that develop technology: whether from academic, government, or corporate entities. The more we network and are exposed to best practices, the more and better deals we can do and the more effective the State will be at attracting venture capital and executives to transform (Faculty) start-up intentions into viable businesses.

LES is particularly known for providing a venue for networking opportunities to bring owners of technology together with the seekers of technology. Their focus pertains to basic elements of business development: licensing, IP protection and valuation, strategic planning, and also in education. "Business is a nose-to-nose activity and a Maryland Chapter can succeed in bringing together ALL the professionals in the State working in technology transfer and business development regardless if they are from academia, industry, government, or military," said Ted Poehler, Vice Provost for Research at JHU.

One of the most common comments made in response to the news of a new Maryland Chapter is the disbelief of there not being one already! High level executives in the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) are very supportive of this undertaking because they see the potential economic benefit from a greater and more organized presence of LES. They are an established international society whose mission is well aligned with the goals of the State leading toward enhanced technology transfer activity and the enterprise stimulus that should naturally follow.

A few key opinion leaders in the State from NIH, USDA, University of Maryland, DBED, NASA, JHU LTD, and JHUAPL OTT got together to discuss what this could mean for their organizations as well as the State. At the first such meeting Chris Foster Chief Technology Officer for Maryland and Deputy Secretary of DBED said, "This is an historic moment, someone should take a picture of us here to document the beginning of something great." Everyone present agreed to come together to make the Maryland LES Chapter a success. This intra-state cooperation of business development professionals can do much to contribute to the technology transfer from the discovery and innovation wealthy entities to the corporate sector for public use and benefit.

The Local Chapter LES Trustees recently reviewed a Maryland Chapter Plan prepared by Catherine Vorwald of JHU LTD that outlines the speaker and topic list for the forthcoming year and enthusiastically approved it. "The idea of forming a Maryland Chapter came to me as I drove home from a LES Chapter Meeting in Philadelphia," said Catherine Vorwald. "Maryland is special; we now rank 4th in the nation for technology - based companies; we could benefit from having our own local chapter."

The chapter meetings will be held in the early evening at different locations around the State. Chris Foster, the State's CTO and Deputy Secretary of DBED agreed to be the first speaker at the kick-off event to be held at The Walters Museum on September 22, 2004 starting at 5:30 pm. Also, the DC Chapter will join the Maryland Chapter for a Holiday meeting on December 15, 2004 (venue and speaker TBA).

You do not have to be a LES member to come to the chapter meetings, but pre-registration is required. LES membership is on an individual basis but is not cost prohibitive. Faculty members interesting in forming companies based of their technology (or any one else's) could greatly benefit from membership as there are members that not only have "been there" but professionals that can help advise and mentor entrepreneurs through perhaps an unfamiliar journey.

For more information about LES please visit: www.usa-canada.les.org/ and see the new Maryland Chapter page under the Local Chapter section. For more information regarding JHU's role in this undertaking please contact:

Catherine Vorwald
Assistant Director
Licensing and Technology Development
Johns Hopkins University
(410) 516-4964
cvorwal1@jhmi.edu

or

Kristin Gray
Assistant Director
Office of Technology Transfer
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
(443) 778-7927
kristin.gray@jhuapl.edu

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