Feature
Inventors Academy
Spend just a few minutes with Paul R. Sanberg, vice president for Research & Innovation at USF, and one thing becomes abundantly clear — translating academic research into marketable inventions is more important than ever.
For the past 20 years, patented intellectual property originating at universities and nonprofit research institutions has played an increasingly vital role in the global economy. These new inventions, Sanberg says, have created new jobs, spurred economic development, helped solve complex problems and improved quality of life.
So it's no wonder Sanberg, an inventor himself with about 100 health-related patents worldwide, wanted to find a way to celebrate academic invention and help foster culture change at the university by acknowledging the importance of patenting and commercialization.
In 2009, he conceived the idea for an exclusive membership organization dedicated to honoring, recognizing and encouraging academic inventors. Launched in 2010 at the University of South Florida, Sanberg's National Academy of Inventors (NAI) recognizes investigators at universities and nonprofit research institutes who translate their research findings into inventions that may benefit society.
Today the prestigious academy works closely with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the Association of University Technology Managers, and lists more than 2,000 individual members from 43 member institutions, including Georgetown University, Boston University, Emory University, Temple University and Auburn University. Members must be affiliated with a member institution and be a named inventor on one or more patents issued by the U.S. patent office.
The organization edits its own multidisciplinary journal, Technology and Innovation, and holds an annual conference. Earlier this year, NAI launched its inaugural Fellows program to recognize academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. The first NAI Fellows will be inducted by the U.S. Commissioner for Patents at the NAI Annual Conference in February.
"The overwhelming success of the NAI, and the increasing interest we are receiving from universities and inventors around the world, makes a strong statement about the changing culture of research at universities today," says Sanberg.