Digital IP Strategy in the EU and US with L-Università ta' Malta and Interreg Italia-Malta

Working with our client, the University of Malta, APIOiX designed a unique online training program for Maltese and Italian university technology transfer associates and faculty. The training, entitled “Intellection Property Strategies to Maximize the Commercialization of Digital Innovations: A Comparison of Key Intellectual Property Concepts and Strategies in the European Union and United States,” was presented and a subsequent paper published.

LEARN HOW TO LEVERAGE European and U.S. IP LAW to MAXIMIZE DIGITAL INNOVATION SUCCESS.

Nevada SAGE Year 3

In its 3rd year, the APIOiX Nevada SAGE program pivots to focus on the untapped wealth of opportunity in Southern Nevada, in collaboration with UNLV. APIOiX continues its partnership with the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development to bring SBIR/STTR support to small businesses and startups in Nevada — as well as other economic development initiatives.

National SBIR Week 2021

APIOiX developed a suite of programs for 2021 National SBIR Week as part of Nevada SAGE:

• Components of a Winning SBIR-STTR Proposal for Life Sciences

• Components of a Winning SBIR-STTR Proposal for Physical Sciences

• Deep Dive into Intellectual Property and Contracting Issues

  • Part 1: Common Subcontracting Mistakes that Can Derail Your Project – and Your Business

  • Part 2: Identifying Deadly Encumbrances & Conflicts of Interest

  • Part 3: Negotiating IP Terms to Assure Your Rights

Presentation slides can be found at SBIR Week 2021, with videos to be added after events are complete!

World IP Forum 2021

APIOiX and Portland State University have joined forces on a research project to analyze university licensing data. Their preliminary results were featured at the World IP Forum 2021 in a presentation entitled Resource allocation for technology transfer: Determinants of success.

The research project is headed by co-principal investigators Joe Janda, Assistant Vice-President of Research at PSU and Arundeep Pradhan of APIOiX and the Institute for Innovation Ecosystem Development. For more information click on the presentation link above or visit Drivers of Licensing Success.

SAGE Exceeds Targets, Nevada Governor's Office Supports Statewide Expansion

SAGE: The Sierra Accelerator for Growth & Entrepreneurship has been approved to expand statewide with new operations at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

SAGE, a public-private partnership between the University of Nevada, Reno and APIOiX, launched in Fall of 2019. Over the course of its first year, SAGE exceeded goals, and has garnered grant support from the Nevada Knowledge Fund, a program of the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development to expand the program statewide. Read the article at Nevada Today to learn more.

AUTM Asia 2021 Partnership

APIOiX is partnering with Branchly Innovation, in collaboration with Shanghai Jiao Tong University and SinoFaith IP Group, to organize AUTM Asia 2022 in Shanghai.

Originally scheduled for Fall of 2020, the program has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and is now scheduled to be held in Fall on 2022.

2020 Intellectual Property Forum Keynote

Arun gave the Keynote Address at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals 2020 Intellectual Property Forum. The topic of the Forum was the role of intellectual property in economic development and Arun’s address was titled “Intellectual Property: Powerhouse for Innovation and Economic Development.”

The Forum provided a first for Saudi Arabia, presenting the experiences of several multinational corporations that have invested in R&D in the Kingdom. A white paper from the conference is pending.

SAGE Launch and Winter Residency at UNR

Michael Batalia, Arundeep Pradhan, join Ellen Purpus, Assistant Vice President for Enterprise & Innovation and Program Director for SAGE.

The second week of February marked the official launch of SAGE: the Sierra Accelerator for Growth & Entrepreneurship.

The SAGE program is the newest addition to the UNR Enterprise & Innovation suite of programs, which includes the InNEVation Center, the Nevada Center for Applied Research, and Nevada Industry Excellence, a NIST Manufacturing Excellence Program partner.

SAGE is a natural extension for APIOiX, which has years of experience providing SBIR/STTR proposal development and technical assistance. SAGE is made possible through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

NCET2 Startup Development Officer Program

Earlier this year, Arundeep Pradhan was selected to serve as part of the National Council of Entrepreneurial Technology Transfer (NCET2) Startup Development Officer Program. According to NCET2, they “created a capstone program to find Startup Development Officers (SDOs) to assist universities, faculty, researchers, students, and entrepreneurs to develop startups aligned to NCET2's Corporate Members' business units.”

As an SDO, Arun volunteers five or more hours each month to guide early-stage startups arising from university research, as well as participating in review of NCETs’s Virtual Startup Pitches.

Ray and Arun Go to Jerusalem

They aren’t quite as exciting as Bill and Ted, but Ray and Arun manage to have fun adventures. In November they traveled to Jerusalem to conduct a one-day workshop at AUTM Asia 2019 and to visit with clients and contacts in Tel Aviv.

Arun has been involved in AUTM Asia since the beginning, helping get the program launched during his term as President of AUTM. Each year, AUTM Asia provides a unique opportunity for technology transfer education and networking.

U.S. Small Business Administration Awards FAST Grant to UNR and APIOiX

SAGE operates out of the InNEVation Center at UNR, a business accelerator and co-working space with impressive Makerspace facilities.

The University of Nevada, Reno and APIOiX have received a grant from U.S. Small Business Administration for the FAST (Federal and State Technology) Partnership Program was awarded effective October 1, 2019.

The funding will be used to create SAGE: The Sierra Accelerator for Growth and Entrepreneurship and is targeted at providing Small Business Innovation in Research (SBIR) grant support to technology-based companies in the Northern Nevada region. Read the full story here.

Driving Innovation for a Stronger India

APIOiX and the AUTM Foundation delivered a four-day Intellectual Property Rights Symposium in Kolkata under a grant from the U.S. Department of State.

Opening Ceremony: US Consul General Patricia Hoffman and Biswajit Sarkar

At the opening of the symposium U.S. Consul General of Kolkata, Ms. Patricia Hoffman, greeted participants and discussed the importance of intellectual property rights and protection to “innovation and creativity, which are drivers of job creation and for increasing high value production and exports.” She then went on to discuss the four pillars of intellectual property: creation, protection, commercialization, and enforcement.

Liz Divito, AUTM Foundation Development Associate and one of the key coordinators of the event, noted “There was a lot of passion in the room. Each time the trainers, Arundeep Pradhan and Michael Batalia of APIOiX , opened the floor to questions there were multiple hands in the air.”

The program received a composite review by attendees of over 90% approval for both courses. Our White Paper, “Driving Innovation for a Stronger India” can be found here.

U.S. Air Force Negotiation Skills Workshop

APIOiX directors Ray Wheatley and Arundeep Pradhan recently conducted an AUTM Negotiation Skills training workshop for the United States Air Force personnel. Topics included:

• Steps in negotiation

• Organizational culture and goals impact negotiations

• You as a negotiator

• Dealing with difficult people

• Tricky tools and game playing

• Initial interactions

• Impact of time pressure and emotions

• Negotiation modalities

• Beyond the deal

East India-US Symposium June 28-July 2

Registration open now! Join us June 28-29 and July 1-2, 2019 at the Westin Kolkata for the East India—United States Symposium on Intellectual Property Rights.

The AUTM Foundation is excited to partner with APIOiX and the US Consulate in Kolkata to host the East India – US Symposium on Intellectual Property Rights.

The Symposium consists of two 2-day workshops: one for intellectual property practitioners in academia and law, and a second for local and regional entrepreneurs and businesses. It is rooted in a mandate to understand intellectual property rights (IPR) challenges and best practices, expand innovation and entrepreneurial activity in India, and connect Indian and US businesses

APIOiX Adds Directors

Ray, Arun, and Michael

Apio is pleased to announce that Michael Batalia and Ray Wheatley accepted appointments as directors in 2018. Their years of experience in technology transfer, innovation management, and entrepreneurship add to Apio’s suite of management expertise.

Read more about Michael and Ray.

APIOiX Receives Grant for Kolkata Workshops

The American Centre in Kolkata

APIOiX is headed to India this spring to conduct Intellectual Property Rights training in Kolkata under a grant from the U.S. Department of State. The program aims to increase understanding of intellectual property rights issues in East India, and to raise awareness of value of filing for IP protection in the U.S. The program will be conducted as a pilot project with the AUTM Foundation.

Return to Riyadh and Visit to VISTEC in Hanoi

March and April were heavy travel months for the APIOiX crew. First up, a return to Riyadh where we helped coordinate a conference for the King Salman Institute for Entrepreneurship at King Saud University.

Apio brought together twelve speakers from three countries to present keynote lectures and training courses for inventors, faculty, students, and entrepreneurs.  

Yahya Al-Harthi, John Bial, Kristin, and Arun

Yahya, Ray Wheatley, Arun, Cameron McCoy, and Michael Batalia

Keynotes were delivered by David Frazee, a Silicon Valley high tech strategist and managing director of Richmond Global Ventures, and Michael Batalia, CEO of Wide Eyed Technologies and member of the Perlan Project Mission II Team.

April saw a visit to VISTEC, a division of the Vietnam Ministry of Science and Technology, Hanoi. It was a great meeting and we look forward to the opportunity to collaborate on projects.

Ray, Kristin, Arun, and our translator Thanh meet with Director Tran, Deputy Director Trinh and their team at VISTEC

Arun's TEDx: Technology Transfer and the Liberal Arts

We promised the link months ago, and here it is - finally! 

Survive and Thrive in Five

Apio Turns Five!

We've survived five years - and grown. To mark the occasion Apio Partners has become Apio Innovation Transfer - APIOiX for short. As we close 2017 we note some of the successes of the past year:

• Apio founder, Arundeep Pradhan, was invited to give a TEDx talk in Tucson. (We'll post the talk when the TED organization has the link ready.)

• We welcomed two new principals, Ray Wheatley and Christopher Noble.

• Three of our principals - Kristin, Arundeep, and Ray - presented a multi-day course for the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office Global Intellectual Property Academy as part of their efforts for the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM).

• Kristin and Arundeep created and presented a new series of researcher and technology transfer professional training courses for the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

• Apio principal Ray Wheatley was invited to present at the Polish Patent Office Symposium.

• Arundeep served as expert witness in the matter Roe v Baylor Research Institute, helping obtain a $7.75 million jury verdict in favor of Roe.

2016 ASBAR World Forum (Dec 6-8) highlights

Opening Ceremony

Arun attended and participated in the ASBAR World Forum on the Transitioning to a Knowledge Economy. The focus of the forum was on strategies and tactics on capacity building in universities and industry providing a high level understanding of issues associated with transitioning the Kingdom's oil-based economy to a knowledge-based economy, reducing these issues into manageable and actionable tasks, and providing processes and methods to execute strategies to achieve the objectives of the Vision 2030 Plan.

Visiting Riyadh was an eye-opening experience. About a third of the participants were women, and several women entrepreneurs gave presentations. Arun found out that it is easier for women entrepreneurs to open a business and secure financing from the government than it is for men (a good start). There was incredible energy and a desire to make things happen to achieve the Vision 2030 objectives from the ministers to the citizens. The most valuable part, as it tends to be, were the informal discussions that happened during breaks and meals.

The Forum consisted of panel discussions and workshops, and was extremely well attended. There was considerable discussion about creating innovation ecosystems, ways to fund and nurture knowledge creation and innovation, roles of various stakeholders, and the infrastructure required. The speakers and participants agreed that transition efforts should be on multiple fronts such as attracting multinational corporations to build R&D facilities, the need to increase university-industry collaborations, partnerships between academia, government and industry (AGI initiatives), and instituting policies, laws and regulations that incentivize these activities. The strategies included were investing in research, entrepreneur focused education and mentoring, creating SBIR and STTR type programs, greater communication between the stakeholders, and creating prototyping and light manufacturing facilities. And, as we found there are already some efforts underway to build or enhance innovation centers within universities and engage in entrepreneurial activities. There are however some barriers which are being addressed such as culture in universities and industry, skills and training of technology transfer professionals, and an undeveloped innovation ecosystem to support and sustain startup companies.

Highlights of the Forum included the inauguration and awards by Prince Fasial bin Bandar, Governor of Riyadh. In addition, there were ex-ministers, ministers and deputy ministers representing government, and CEOs and vice presidents of corporations who participated in the discussion panels along with incredible speakers from around the world. The panel discussions promoted a great deal of dialog between universities, government, and industry. Arun was on a panel that discussed how universities and state or regional governments can work together and the impact of those collaborative efforts, a workshop on the role of a university in the knowledge economy, and a keynote address on building capacity for academic technology transfer.

The Forum surpassed all expectations and positive comments from the attendees indicating a desire for more events of this nature. Working with Dr. Yahya Al-Harthi to put the program together and recruit the international speakers was a great experience, and we hope to repeat our efforts next year.