Inventors of Biomedical Technologies Join Together in Technology Showcase

Milwaukee, Feb. 17, 2017 – The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) recently partnered with Emory University, the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, and Washington State University, to create an online Technology Showcase. This event allowed the inventors of biomedical technologies to present them directly through the WebEx platform to companies and investors without the need to travel more than a few steps from their offices and laboratories. The event included live presentations from two inventors at each institution, and participants from pharmaceutical, investment and consulting groups across the United States were able to see and hear the inventors and ask questions.

“I wanted to use technology to bring discoveries to an audience in new, cost-effective ways, and I found a great group of marketing counterparts at Emory, LSU and WSU who helped make this event happen,” said Edward Diehl, PhD, Intellectual Property marketing manager at MCW.

MCW generates significant advances in therapeutics, diagnostics and medical software, and one of the institution’s missions is to bring these technologies to the patients who need them. Early-stage technologies are marketed to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and investor groups in order to obtain licensing agreements, and licensees then use their capital and experience to develop these technologies into life-changing products. Finding the right development partner for early-stage technologies is a challenge that every university and academic medical center shares. Efforts include the sharing of non-confidential summaries of assets with prospective licensees via email as well as one-on-one meetings conducted at national and international biomedical meetings. While often productive, the latter is expensive, requires substantial amounts of time, and almost never includes the actual inventor(s) of the technologies. The online Technology Showcase minimizes costs while maximizing inventor exposure. Diehl also noted that “we needed the event to be innovative, informative and interactive.”

Participants in the Technology Showcase included representatives from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, consulting groups and investment organizations. David Arnstein, Chief Financial Officer at Venture Investors, LLC, said “the Technology Showcase was a very productive and efficient medium with which to connect institutions with potential investors and licensees. I think there is a bright future for these types of events.”

The organizers plan to have several Technology Showcases each year and expect that other universities and academic medical centers will begin to coordinate similar events.

About the Medical College of Wisconsin

The Medical College of Wisconsin is the state’s only private medical school and health sciences graduate school.  Founded in 1893, it is dedicated to leadership and excellence in education, patient care, research and community engagement.  More than 1,200 students are enrolled in MCW’s medical school and graduate school programs in Milwaukee, 56 medical students enrolled at MCW-Green Bay, and 26 students matriculated to MCW-Central Wisconsin in 2016.   MCW’s School of Pharmacy will open in 2017 or 2018 with an initial class size of 60 students.  A major national research center, MCW is the largest research institution in the Milwaukee metro area and second largest in Wisconsin.  In FY 2014-15, faculty received approximately $158 million in external support for research, teaching, training and related purposes, of which approximately $139 million is for research.  This total includes highly competitive research and training awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  Annually, MCW faculty direct or collaborate on more than 3,200 research studies, including clinical trials. Additionally, more than 1,500 physicians provide care in virtually every specialty of medicine for more than 525,000 patients annually.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.