Impending reductions in government funding for universities will force even the top research institutions to find new ways to support critical work.
Replacing the funding is a no simple matter and universities will have to find new ways to do it.
These and other observations were shared by Dr. Michael Cima, celebrated MIT Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. Cima holds an appointment at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and also the Chair of Engineering at MIT. He was appointed faculty director of the Lemelson-MIT Program in 2009, a nationwide organization that inspires young people to be inventive.
Professor Cima is author or co-author of over three hundred peer reviewed scientific publications, fifty-eight U.S. patents, and is a recognized expert in the field of materials processing. His business exits have included a sale to Johnson & Johnson.
“Support of early-stage research serves the public through early development of many new medical products, so much so that it is hard to point to just about any new medical product that wasn’t touched by NIH support.”
Ep12, S4
On the current episode of Understanding IP Matters (UIPM), and the concluding episode of season four, Dr. Cima, an educator, inventor, and entrepreneur, discusses his work as well as the intellectual property generated in universities and the impact potential government cuts to university funding can have.
Dr. Cima, who works closely with renowned inventor and entrepreneur Robert Langer (1,600 papers and 1,500 patents), explains what are the most important attributes to be a great inventor and what are the most important lessons to learn as a student.
Cancer fighters, Michael Cima and Robert Langer
- “Support of early-stage research serves the public through early development of many new medical products, so much so that it is hard to point to just about any new medical product that wasn’t touched by NIH support.”
Main Attributes
“There are three main attributes to great inventor-entrepreneurs,” says Cima:
- The “first is curiosity, curious people are collecting solutions to problems they haven’t encountered.”
- The second skill is “the skill of empathy, getting into the shoes of somebody else.”
- And the final one is leadership, which “is actually the hardest one to teach.”
Go here to listen to the episode, Celebrated MIT engineer and entrepreneur develops medical devices to treat cancer and other diseases.
Listeners can subscribe to Understanding IP Matters on their favorite platform at the above link.
Image source: CIPU; MIT.edu
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