Five months ago, Katherine Gordon joined Brown University as managing director of the Technology Ventures Office, charged with boosting the university’s role in developing, transferring and commercializing technologies emerging from its labs.
Gordon’s job is to work with the financial community, entrepreneurs, companies and Brown’s partner hospitals, making licensing deals and planting the seeds for new startups.
A veteran of the biomedical industry and, most recently, of Harvard University’s Office of Technology Development, Gordon came to Brown with a real expertise in this field – but she’s also had to adapt to a smaller, less resource-rich market.
Gordon recently spoke with Providence Business News about her experience so far, Brown’s priorities and where she sees the most potential.
PBN: Where do you see some of the best opportunities at Brown?
GORDON: We’ve got several cores of excellence: nanotech, huge areas of expertise in computer science, biomedical engineering, energy initiatives. Those are just some examples, and building up relationships in those areas is one of our goals.
PBN: And you’re not starting from scratch, right? Some of these researchers have a fair amount of experience with commercialization?
GORDON: Oh sure. The office historically has started companies, licensed to startup companies, and also licensed to larger companies. It’s done a bunch of deals. But the fact is that we are poised to be more out-looking or marketing-focused. We’re aiming to bring in companies and investment groups that focus on other core areas, like Boston and New York, and say, Brown also has a lot of expertise and may be flying below the radar screen. So we really think we can do that better.
PBN: What are some good startups that have come out of Brown recently?
PBN: There are different ways to commercialize a technology. How much do you see Brown being a breeding ground for startups, versus a sort of idea mill?
GORDON: We do both, and we also do collaborations with industry, and sponsored research. But … the community here is very entrepreneurial. People are always thinking about things that they can develop, and they want to start companies.
PBN: Are Brown faculty members generally more interested in doing their own thing, rather than licensing something, say, to Microsoft?
GORDON: That’s always a dialogue. We like to have strategic discussions with the faculty about what their interests are and … the possible routes to commercialization, what makes sense. We also work together with the [Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship]. They help entrepreneurs network and make connections and get launched, and offer educational resources.
PBN: Going back to sponsored research, my sense is there’s a lot of interest from companies in working with academia, but there’s also a real distaste in academia for “research for hire.” PBN: Do you have any partnerships right now that you think will lead to licensing deals? PBN: It’s often said of Providence that it has a lot of creative energy, a lot of talent, but it’s not a good place to grow a company. What do you think? PBN: Are there specific areas where you think critical mass is key?
GORDON: That’s something that, in general, research universities don’t strive to do, mostly because the goal here is to do independent, creative research that can be published. But having said that, there’s still a great match with companies who oftentimes partner with the universities because they have cutting-edge research going on, and companies want to tap into that and want to collaborate and, in many cases, sponsor big projects.
GORDON: We’ve got a number of interesting discussions going on, but I can’t give you a preview. I can tell you that we’re redoing our Web site to prominently feature technologies available for licensing.
We’re pretty active in trying to [spotlight] the talent that we have and trying to introduce them to investors who haven’t been to Brown and haven’t been to Rhode Island, and increase the channels of networking, increase the visibility of the office.
GORDON: There’s been a lot of conversations about that, both internally and at RI-CIE, which of course is set up to provide resources for companies so they don’t have to leave the state to get them. The [Science and Technology Council] has been involved in that, and the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce. Why do they leave the state? Obviously to be in proximity to the sources of capital or other companies they might collaborate with. Rhode Island is becoming an attractive place for companies to be, and we think it’s a matter of critical mass.
GORDON: There’s certainly space, and the rents are less expensive compared with Cambridge, for instance. But it’s also about getting a better business environment and having neighbors you can exchange ideas with. Some of the areas in Cambridge took a long time to build up critical mass, too. It doesn’t happen overnight. •
