IP marketers are made, not born . . . at least that’s the concept behind a course in communication skills being given to students at the Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology. The course is presented by Mary Spiro, who handles media relations for the institute. “Our directors had always had it in their minds that someone would teach communication skills to the students who were funded by the institute,” she says. “The idea was to teach those skills — not in the sense of writing papers, but communicating to a non-scientific audience.” Spiro has taught the intensive one-week course in January 2008 and January 2009; classes meet for three hours a day, and there is additional work assigned outside of the classroom. “We have about 30 graduate students who are admitted to Johns Hopkins in individual departments,” Spiro explains. “Once admitted, they can apply to be a fellow with the Institute for NanoBioTechnology through a variety of funding sources we have.” Students who are funded by the institute are required to take the one-credit (pass/fail) course.

The rationale for the offering, Spiro continues, “is that scientists and engineers who are able to clearly explain what the relevance of their research is are more likely to form collaborations with other scientists, more likely to be understood by lawmakers who have the power to fund them, and will also have the ability to influence funding agencies for grants.” People who review grant proposals, she adds, may not specialize in the researcher’s field, making communication skills critical to getting the message across effectively. “What’s more, what if you’re making a presentation to a venture capital company?” she poses. “You want to be able to explain why your research is relevant; you do not want to get mired in the science.” A detailed article on Spiro’s marketing course appears in the December 2009 issue of Intellectual Property Marketing Advisor. To get access to this complete article and become a subscriber, including access to the entire archive of back issues, CLICK HERE.

Posted December 29th, 2009 under Intellectual Property Marketing

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