Nicole N. Morris Director of Technological Innovations: Generating Economic Results (TI:GER) at Emory University School of Law

On this episode of Tech Transfer IP, Lisa is speaking with Nicole N. Morris, a faculty member at Emory University School of Law. Nicole is a professor in practice and Director of the TI:GER (Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results), an innovative partnership between Emory and Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) that brings together graduate students in law, business, science, and engineering to work on ways to take innovative ideas from the lab to the marketplace. As a professor in practice, Nicole's expertise includes patent law, patent litigation, patent prosecutions, IP licensing, and strategy.

Nicole has over ten years of experience practicing patent law in large and mid-size law firms and has represented clients in patent and trademark litigation matters, as well as patent prosecution matters. Nicole also worked as an engineer for six years with 3M and Eli Lilly and has over twenty years' experience working with consumer products and technology commercialization.

Listen as Nicole shares what the TI:GER program is, what they do, and where the ideas for the projects come from. She talks about how many students go through the program each year, how they are broken up into teams, and how each team determines which project they will work on. Nicole believes one of the biggest advantages of the program is the peer-to-peer learning they take part in.

Nicole speaks about the projects and what happens to them at the end of the semester. She also touches on some projects the student teams are working on right now and how virtual learning because of COVID affected the students, speakers, and program. Nicole also shares her thoughts on improving equity in Innovation for women and other historically underrepresented groups.

Nicole says that if she had three wishes for the TI:GER program, they would be, grant money for the program, more speed in the changed they are making to the curriculum by adding courses to help students be more emphatic and better advocates for their clients and finally that COVID will be controlled so we can live with it and so many people aren't dying from it.

In This Episode:

• [03:11] Welcome to the show, Nicole!
• [03:41] Nicole talks about the transition from an active attorney to academia.
• [06:40] What courses do you teach at Emory?
• [07:17] Nicole discusses the TI:GER program, what they do, and how they started.
• [08:40] Nicole explains in more detail how functionally the program works.
• [11:12] Where do the ideas come from that form the basis of the projects in TI:GER
• [12:20] How many students participate each year?
• [13:34] Nicole speaks about how students are broken up into teams and what projects they work on.
• [16:32] They believe in freedom to operate, so the J.D, MBA, and Ph.D. students work together on projects.
• [18:48] What do law students who apply for the TI:GER program hope to get out of the program? What is their motivation?
• [21:34] Nicole says the biggest advantage of the program is peer-to-peer learning.
• [23:52] Nicole speaks about the skills she believes the TI:GER program provides students they wouldn't get in more traditional law school classes.
• [25:33] How did COVID impact the TI:GER program?
• [28:39] Nicole discusses what happens to the projects at the end of the semester.
• [30:35] Nicole shares some projects that the student teams are working on.
• [33:20] Nicole talks about her thoughts on improving equity in Innovation for women and other historically underrepresented groups.
• [36:53] Do you have a thought about the general counsel of Coca-Cola coming out with a new policy putting pressure on law firms to make a change?
• [39:02] Grant money for the TI:GER program, speed up the curriculum changes around empathy, and controlling COVID are three things she wishes for the TI:GER program.
• [41:52] Thank you for being on the show!

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