UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A series of three workshops hosted by the Penn State Eberly College of Science will allow researchers to flesh out ideas and dig into the process of translating their research for benefit to society.
Translation is an early part of technology transfer where scientific discoveries are aligned to tangible solutions addressing societal challenges. The “Pathways to Impact” workshop series offers researchers guidance on navigating the translation process through hands-on training at the earliest stage of idea conception. Registration for the February workshops, which is open to faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and research staff in the Eberly College of Science and their collaborators, is open through Jan. 31.
This program consists of three hands-on workshops that will guide researchers in creating a “development plan” for their translational research idea. The plan will map out technical development of their idea after identifying downstream obstacles to adoption, such as regulations, production scale up, market expectations and patenting.
“Aligning the upstream technical development with the downstream constraints allows researchers to avoid common pitfalls that prevent adoption,” said Emily Kuhns, director of the college’s Office for Innovation. “Together, these workshops enable researchers to gain insight that will enhance their technical planning, develop a compelling broader impacts statement, and decipher the industry innovation perspective.”
The workshops will cover the following topics:
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Feb 7: How does tech get out of the university and into the market? This workshop will cover the role of universities, government, and industry for innovation, product development basics, developing a concept from an initial idea, and identifying appropriate routes for a technology to get adopted into the market.
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Feb 19: The role of intellectual property in facilitating innovation. This workshop will cover why intellectual property matters to inventors, how IP influences investment into inventions, finding prior art, evaluating freedom to operate, and navigating competing inventions and patent claims.
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Feb 26: Backwards planning and funding mechanisms for technical development. This workshop will cover common downstream challenges to technology adoption and how to overcome them. Participants will identify specific downstream challenges like regulations, production and compatibility with existing infrastructure and use these challenges to inform their early technical development of their idea. The workshop also will explore key performance indicators for the technology and identify funding sources that may be used to reach those milestones throughout the development process.
Additionally, up to six workshop participants will be invited to present their project to Eberly’s Technology Advisory Board on March 21 to receive feedback and networking advice from external experts in research and development. Participants will gain insight into how technology development and investment is evaluated outside of the university through presenting their project to a friendly, constructive industry audience.
At the conclusion of this program, participants will have a strong foundation for applying to the college's internal Lab Bench to Commercialization (LB2C) Seed Grant Program (applications due April 4) or other translational funding programs.
How to register
Faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and research staff in the Eberly College of Science and their collaborators are welcome to apply. Graduate students and postdocs interested in technology transfer or seeking industry careers are particularly encouraged to apply, as this workshop will address principles that are not typically covered in their STEM degrees.
To register, participants should submit a short letter of intent by Jan. 31, as described in the workshop call. The letter should describe a translational research idea with some expectations for how it could be used to benefit society. However, participants do not need to have experimental evidence for their idea. Interested parties are encouraged to reach out to Emily Kuhns in the Eberly College of Science Office for Innovation if they have any concerns about the appropriateness of their idea, scheduling concerns or other questions.