Bayh-Dole Coalition’s Innovation Award Winners Remind Us Why We Do What We Do

From left to right: Dr. Shafiqul Chowdhury, Dr Rachel Dorin, Kathy Ku, Dr. Hong Hua, and Dr. Ashok Gadgil at Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.

Every once in a while, it’s important to step back to remind ourselves why we continue to stand up for the American patent system and the Bayh-Dole Act, which injected the authorities and incentives of patent ownership into the federal R&D system so that government-funded inventions turn into useful products. We spend a lot of time and energy pushing back against those who argue patents make products more expensive and that any invention made with public support should be freely available for anyone to copy. That can feel exhausting at times, so the Bayh-Dole Coalition recently presented its Faces of American Innovation Award to five remarkable people whose stories capture why the United States leads the world in entrepreneurship.

I was fortunate to have worked with Senator Birch Bayh in passing the Bayh-Dole Act 44 years ago. At the time, we hoped the legislation, by making possible partnerships between our research universities, federal laboratories, entrepreneurial small companies and large businesses, would allow American taxpayers and people throughout the world to have better lives through the commercialization of federally-funded discoveries.

Bayh-Dole makes this legally possible, but it takes a lot of dedication, sacrifice, risk and private investment for that to happen. The award winners represent thousands of others who labor every day in our universities, federal laboratories and most importantly, the private sector, turning federally funded inventions into products which better the human condition.

The complete stories are told in our report but here’s a quick summary of what this year’s winners accomplished against great odds, making the world a better place.

Dr. Ashok Gadgil was haunted by the specter of millions of people condemned to drink unsafe water because that’s all that is available in so many parts of the world. He went to work at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and developed a microwave size filtration device that efficiently purifies water.  He was going to publish the technology so it could be readily adapted but learned that would destroy the incentives needed to turn it into a product, so his invention was patented. But no one was interested in a license for such a limited market. Not giving up, Dr. Gadgil helped start a company that developed the filter, which is now widely used in Africa and Asia.

Next, Dr. Gadgil heard about the horrors of the Darfur refugee camps in Africa, where women are systematically attacked when they venture out in the surrounding forests to gather fuel to cook for their families. At great personal risk, he visited the camps, returned home and developed an eco-friendly stove that runs on just a little fuel which makes their lives much safer. It’s estimated that his inventions have helped more than 100 million people.

When she was little, Dr. Hong Hua’s mother told her to get a good education and help as many people as she could. She became fascinated by the possibilities of virtual and augmented reality. Working at the University of Arizona, Hong began working with patients suffering from ALS, commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease, which causes them to gradually lose all muscular control even while they remain fully alert. As the disease progresses, many are left with just their eye movements, and Hong realized it was possible to use these new technologies to help them communicate.  As she worked on developing glasses they could use, she attracted the attention of a small company working in another field. That company, called eSight, was working to help people who were losing or had already lost their eyesight. They agreed to fund Hong’s work, which developed a revolutionary pair of glasses that have helped some patients get 20/20 vision. One user got to see her mother’s face for the first time.

Dr Rachel Dorin was attending Cornell University’s Department of Materials Science and had decided on becoming a management consultant upon graduation, as that seemed like a secure career path. On informing her academic counselor, she was very surprised when he said: “That’s disappointing, you should become an entrepreneur. And I don’t tell many people that.”

Those words struck her because Rachel was fascinated with the work she was doing with new materials. She was on a team working with polymers with the potential to screen out impurities when drugs are in production. If a contaminant leaks through, the whole plant might shut down and patients suffer when their drug aren’t available. The team came up with a new filter that looked promising in the lab but like most academic discoveries, it was early stage, and no established company was interested.  Rachel took a bold step. She formed her own company, investing what little she had while tapping friends and family for enough to get started and licensed the technology.

Like most startups, the company was barely keeping its head above water, so Rachel made another bold decision. She would relocate from New York to the West Coast. Rachel rented a U-Haul Trailer, wrapped her precious lab equipment in bubble wrap and headed to California. That leap of faith worked out. TeraPore is now a pioneer in the field of nanofiltration, working with multiple drug companies to insure safe production of vital medicines.

Dr.  Shafiqul Chowdhury grew up in Bangladesh wanting to become a veterinarian because he saw the incredible suffering inflicted on livestock and their owners from diseases like avian and swine flu that can quickly devastate a herd. Later he wound up at Louisiana State University and began searching for more effective vaccines than were currently available.

Eventually, he decided on a revolutionary approach— a modified form of bovine herpes virus which wouldn’t cause illness but would help cattle create antibodies to fight off real diseases. The concept was promising, but finding a company to commit the time and resources necessary to get a genetically modified vaccine approved is very hard.

While many would have given up, Dr. Chowdhury continued on for two decades until he found a small South Dakota company willing to license his invention, which not only protects animals but also inhibits diseases from jumping species to infect humans.  It’s estimated that Dr. Chowdhury’s vaccine could save 8 million calves and $1 billion in associated costs to the U.S. cattle industry.

Perhaps the most invisible players in the Bayh-Dole system are also the most important. Academic and federal patent licensing officers have to be able to communicate with leading edge researchers in many fields while also understanding markets and cultivating industry contacts to find commercialization partners. Kathy Ku is not only one of the best but also played a large role in developing our academic technology management system, which is the world’s gold standard.

Kathy worked for Niels Reimers, who’s in the Bayh-Dole Coalition’s Hall of Fame as one of the pioneers in the field. At the time, there were only a few people in the Stanford licensing office but that would quickly change after they licensed the Cohen-Boyer patent, which helped jumpstart the U.S. biotechnology industry to more than 400 companies.

By the time Kathy took over, the office had more than doubled in size and Kathy made sure to preserve its entrepreneurial culture while developing the necessary systems to preserve its success. But she did much more than that. Most universities were struggling to set up licensing offices. Kathy worked hard to share best practices, which was the key for the successful implementation of Bayh-Dole. Niels and Kathy developed the Stanford licensing model, which is based on making sure their industry partners are treated fairly so they want to pursue future partnerships.  Because of their work, the Stanford model was widely adopted and is a reason why the Bayh-Dole Act has been so successful.

Knowing the fledgling profession needed a set of guidelines, Kathy was instrumental in developing the Nine Points of Technology Licensing that was essential to its growth.

We should also mention that under Kathy’s leadership a couple of kids at Stanford got a license for a new search engine that no one else wanted— that turned into Google. One of her peers said the thing that struck them most about Kathy Ku is that she has no ego and always focuses on the success of others, never promoting herself.

As we were walking past the Capitol on our way to presenting the award winners to Members of Congress, Hong Hua told me something about her story that I didn’t know.  The founder of eSight had a special reason for wanting to work with her to restore vision to those who couldn’t see.  His sister is one of those people. When I asked if her glasses helped, Hong smiled brightly and said: “Yes, they did!”

If you wonder why we do what we do, that story is a good reminder.  This is one fight we will never give up. Too many lives are depending on us. We won’t let them down.