SOUTH KINGSTOWN – Fathi Abdelsalam, a past senior patent examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Virginia, has been named the University of Rhode Island’s new executive director for intellectual property, management and economic development.
URI says Abdelsalam has more than 15 years of leadership experience in innovation, technology, entrepreneurship and policy. He previously built Akibah Health Corp., a high-tech venture-backed startup from scratch into a multimillion-dollar company within six years, the university said.
Abdelsalam also served as an advisor and entrepreneur-in-residence to several governments and organizations around the world, URI said. Now, Abdelsalam, the university added, will lead URI’s oversight and management of all new intellectual properties with commercial potential that result from research.
“Fathi will bring the creativity, energy and skills to assist faculty in turning their discoveries into important inventions for the betterment of our society,” said URI Vice President for Research and Economic Development Peter Snyder in a statement.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
