Career Center

Why should you want to work with us? You could work anywhere, but you choose to work with us because you want to make a difference in the world by challenging yourself creatively being part of a close-knit team that works hard and always has each other's backs.  You seek an opportunity to make life-changing impacts that touch people across the world and want to pursue your dream job that applies your unique skills to defining the future of technology development in New York and beyond.

FUNCTION & SCOPE:

The Research Foundation for The State University of New York is seeking an energetic, results-oriented Business Development & Licensing Associate to support its Industry and External Affairs (IEA) team and help make SUNY the best place for researchers and innovators to solve the world's most pressing problems, and connect those solutions with partners that translate them into products and services that will transform lives.

The Associate will proactively partner with and build strong relationships with SUNY's research community. You will analyze and drive decisions related to SUNY's research and intellectual property portfolio based on your understanding of market trends and opportunities. Your technical knowledge will enable you to assess and evaluate new technologies disclosed by research from across the SUNY enterprise for patentability and marketability. The Associate will work closely with the Associate Director for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to engage researchers in technology transfer and commercialization, with a focus on disclosure mining and setting assessment priorities.

To be successful in this position, you will be a constant learner; you will utilize data to drive decisions, and you will focus on outcomes and setting priorities. You will continuously develop your knowledge of SUNY's intellectual property and research assets, and you will always be identifying and assessing opportunities. You must be conversant, comfortable, and confident with academic and commercial partners and capable of leading conversations that are very technical in nature. If you are ambitious, curious, enthusiastic about technology, outgoing, enjoy teamwork, thrive when continually challenged, and delight in opportunities for deep engagement with some of the world's brightest scientists, then this is a great opportunity for you.

DUTIES:

• Meet with faculty to discuss their inventions, invention disclosures, and the technology transfer process and also to help identify new technologies with promising commercial potential.
• Utilize various tools to proactively identify research teams with a high potential for new intellectual property generation and educate teams on the disclosure process, intellectual property, commercialization, and all of the services IEA provides across the enterprise.
• Complete intellectual property and market opportunity assessments of new technology disclosures by conducting web- and subscription-based patent searches and market research to evaluate the patentability and commercial potential of inventions.
• Support the implementation of strategies to maximize the value of the SUNY-wide IP portfolio, primarily the "integrated" campuses.
• Perform research and complete timely preliminary assessments of commercial market opportunities and intellectual property strategies for SUNY technologies, and prepare market opportunity assessments within 60 days of disclosure submissions;
• Support the development and implementation of marketing and licensing strategies to move innovation developed at the centralized campuses to market, which includes regular and broad dissemination of the opportunities that exist, identifying and connecting external partners to the business development and licensing team;
• Consult with appropriate Sponsored Programs personnel to identify correct sponsorship, and assist in completion of reporting required for RF compliance with obligations to federal, state, industry, or foundation sponsor(s), including invention reporting for centralized campus disclosures.
• Travel as necessary and reasonable to campuses and other locations having a target of visiting each centralized campus at least once per year and spending two to three days embedded at each campus.
• Conduct 'customer discovery' to validate commercial opportunities with industry experts.
• Assist in the patent prosecution process by performing prior art searches, drafting patent summaries and detailed descriptions, and related analysis.
• Prepare non-confidential and technical information for marketing campaigns.
• Collaborate with inventors to prepare successful proof-of-concept and other funding proposals.

The ideal candidate will have:

• A passion for science and technology and knowledge of the process of transitioning technology from the academic bench to partners for the development of products and services that impact human health and welfare. Candidates from all technical disciplines will be considered, and candidates with advanced degrees will be more competitive;
• Extremely strong primary and secondary research skills;
• Working knowledge of the regulatory or certification environment and process within your area of expertise (e.g., FDA approval process);
• Experience managing patent dockets and portfolios;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and be comfortable communicating with anyone who interacts with SUNY research, innovation, and commercialization; this includes researchers, inventors, teaching faculty, entrepreneurs, business leaders at all levels, administrators, students, and representatives of all levels of local, state and federal government;
• An agile mindset, can-do attitude, a desire to "get to yes," and willingness to tackle any task needed to get the job done with the unwavering support of teammates and leadership;
• A proven, demonstrable track record of success;
• Though having your patent agent credential is a large plus, we expect that many highly qualified candidates that we would be thrilled to hire will not have this credential.

About SUNY Research Foundation

SUNY is home to some of the world’s most transformational inventions including lithium ion batteries, implantable pacemakers, the MRI, and most recently the leading COVID-19 saliva test. Driving social impact, enhancing human wellbeing and stimulating economic growth, the SUNY RF provides SUNY’s 30 state-operated campuses with an infrastructure of people, technology, and processes that enable faculty to write and submit grant proposals to agencies, foundations, and companies; establish contracts and manage funding awarded to run campus-based research projects; protect and commercialize intellectual property created within those projects; and establish enduring partnerships that shape the future.

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