Technology Commercialization at VCU Innovation Gateway with Koffi Egbeto

"My vision for VCU Innovation Gateway is to bring national prominence and world-class recognition and value to VCU, and it's inventors." In this episode of Tech Transfer IP, Lisa is talking with Koffi Selom Egbeto. Koffi is a Technology Commercialization Manager with the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Innovation Gateway. Before working at VCU, Koffi was a Licensing Associate with the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). Prior to UTA, Koffi was a patent technical writer with TR Patents and a patent analyst intern at WTS Paradigm. 

Koffi shares his background and journey to VCU Innovation Gateway and discusses what they do. He speaks about how his office is structured, how many disclosures and patents they had in 2019, and how much licensing revenue they had. Koffi believes that the most important thing when managing innovations to have the greatest opportunities for success is to be open-minded and to find the right market and individuals to help in the process.

Listen as Koffi speaks about the relationship they have with their corporate partners and the role of philanthropic organizations like the Gates Foundation. Koffi also shares what he would have done differently when he started in tech transfer if he knew then what he knows now.

Koffi discusses some of his offices' biggest successes and challenges, what he finds valuable about organizations like AUTM and whether he thinks credentialing makes a difference when hiring someone. Koffi also shares what his vision for VCU Innovation Gateway is and why.

In This Episode:

• [01:54] Welcome to the show, Koffi!
• [02:15] Koffi shares his background, how he got into tech transfer, and his journey to VCU Innovation Gateway.
• [05:00] Koffi discusses the challenges and opportunities he had as he was trying to become a permanent American resident.
• [07:20] Koffi talks about VCU Innovation Gateway and what they do.
• [08:52] How did the commercialization fund get started?
• [10:13] Koffi discusses how his office is structured.
• [11:06] Koffi shares how many disclosures, patents, and the licensing revenue they had for 2019.
• [12:04] Koffi believes that the most important thing in managing innovations to have the greatest opportunities for success is open-minded and finding the market and individuals.
• [12:36] Koffi speaks about the relationship they have with their corporate partners, and if they led to more deals or differently structured deals.
• [13:45] What is the role of philanthropic organizations like the Gates Foundation?
• [15:04] Koffi shares what he would have done differently when he first started if he knew then what he knows now.
• [16:50] Koffi discusses some of his office's biggest success stories in technology and startups.
• [18:10] What are some of your office's biggest challenges?
• [19:13] Koffi is involved with AUTM, and he finds it valuable and says it makes you feel you are part of a community.
• [20:10] He believes that it's nice to have credentialing, but he doesn't think it makes a big difference.
• [20:58] Koffi shares his vision for VCU Innovation Gateway.
• [22:03] Thank you for being on the show!

Find Koffi Selom Egbeto

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