Strength in Numbers: Bolster Your University’s Commercialization Efforts Through Strategic Inter-Institutional Partnerships
Originally presented November 18, 2010

There is an increasing sophistication and business-like approach that TTOs are adopting to expand and thrive in a more connected and interdependent world, crafting linkages with other schools, economic development agencies, and corporate partners. But as any business executive will attest, partnerships can succeed wildly or fail miserably, depending on how they are structured, nurtured, and operated.

To optimize the results of your partnerships takes diligent work before and after the deal is inked. That’s why our Distance Learning Division has scheduled a targeted 90-minute session that affords you the unique opportunity to hear from the team at Innovation Transfer Network, which connects entrepreneurial faculty and students from a select group of colleges and universities in Central Pennsylvania with business owners to drive commercialization.

Our panel will guide you through the steps they took to form ITN, the challenges they faced and overcame along the way, and the key factors that form the foundation of their success:

• Getting Started
  • ITN’s early vision and partners
  • Insight into the initial program funding structure
  • How the partnership has changed over time, and why
• Program Evolution
  • How to handle staffing needs and expansion
  • Advisory board engagement
  • Program expansion through outreach, networking, forums and events
• Accomplishments and how ITN:
  • Enhanced relationships with the business community
  • Built solid collaborations between faculty across campuses
  • Increased interaction between institutional leaders
• Lessons Learned

Panel of Presenters:

Jennifer Hammaker - Director of Business Development and Business Liaison for the Innovation Transfer Network. In November 2007, Jennifer joined the ITN and brings significant experience from her corporate, start-up and non-profit background. At ITN, Jennifer leads outreach to the business community as well as online content, media, event planning and marketing.

Marian Walters, PhD - Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies and Professor of Physiology, Penn State Harrisburg.  Dr. Walters is the recipient of an NSF Partnerships for Innovation Award to enhance commercialization of faculty discoveries for 11 participating small colleges and universities in the Innovation Transfer Network.  Through these and other resources, she currently focuses on advancing the research agendas for faculty and students at PSH and the collaborating institutions.

Rick Basom, PhD - Director, The Elizabethtown College Office of Research and Planning. Dr. Basomhas been Director of the Office of Research and Planning since January 2008. He is responsible for Institutional Research, Institutional Assessment, Sponsored Research and Planning at the College. In addition to educational research, planning and policy-making, his career has also included organizational leadership. Basom served for five years as managing director and CEO of SERVE Inc. and the Partnership for Dynamic Learning in North Carolina. Prior to that, he served as Deputy Executive Director for the SERVE Center for Continuous Improvement at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has also served as Director of research, development and evaluation for the Appalachia Educational Laboratory in West Virginia, as Director of the policy initiative at the Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast and Islands in Massachusetts, and as Vice President for research at the Cromer and Young Group in Harrisburg.