TECH TRANSFER & COMMERCIALIZATION: The Research Foundation of SUNY

Please welcome guest writer Jim Weyhenmeyer

A faculty researcher at University at Albany submits a successful proposal to the National Science Foundation. The grant is awarded to:

A) the researcher/principal investigator
B) the campus
C) the State University of New York
D) none of the above

The correct answer is D.
Grants and contracts for research and training programs are actually awarded to the Research Foundation (RF) on behalf of SUNY – not directly to the principal investigator or to the campus.

History
Early on SUNY planners recognized the need for a private, corporate entity to act as an interface with external sponsors of research and other programs. The RF was chartered in 1951 as a private, nonprofit corporation to advance the research and scholarship aims of SUNY.

Carrying out its responsibilities pursuant to a 1977 agreement with SUNY, the RF helps SUNY acquire and manage external funds to advance research and transfer technology from campuses to the marketplace.

Volumes
In FY 2007, the RF administered over $781 million in sponsored funding in support of more than 7,400 research and training programs at 30 state-operated SUNY campuses. The RF also helped identify 264 new inventions, filed 201 patent applications and executed 52 licensing and option agreements.

Recent Licenses
The RF signed an exclusive licensing deal with a privately-held bioscience company dedicated to the discovery and early-stage validation of lead peptides for use in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and diagnostic industries. The deal gives the bioscience company exclusive control of a computational method for predicting protein-protein and protein-peptide binding affinities developed at Stony Brook. The algorithm has enormous implications for computer-aided drug design.

The RF recently executed a license agreement with a large multinational pharmaceutical company for the use of Haemophilus influenzae strain 11P6H, which was isolated and characterized by Dr. Timothy Murphy of the University at Buffalo. The agreement enables the pharmaceutical company to the non-exclusive use of the influenzae strain in current animal studies it is conducting to develop new pharmaceuticals.

Separateness
While the RF works hand-in-hand with SUNY, as a private nonprofit corporation it has its own board of directors, programs, policies and procedures. This separation gives the RF the independence and administrative flexibility needed to respond quickly to the special demands of sponsored programs. These programs usually have short timeframes (often one year or less) and the RF provides a key avenue for purchasing equipment and providing staff quickly to work on projects within the budget provided by the sponsor. RF employees are not SUNY/New York state employees and do not participate in the state’s retirement and fringe benefits programs. Under its agreement with SUNY, pay and benefits for RF positions are designed to be comparable with similar positions within SUNY and competitive with other colleges and universities.

Forming Partnerships
The RF also provides a vehicle for establishing partnerships with public and private organizations that are not easily accommodated through state processes. Without the RF, key SUNY research and business incubator facilities such as Albany Nanotech, which has attracted more than $2.5 billion in industry and venture capital support, and Long Island High Technology Incubator (LIHTI), a top performer in terms of employment and average revenue growth achieved by client companies, would not have been possible. Through its ability to bring together the resources of organizations having different legal or management systems, the RF creates environments where SUNY faculty, staff and students can truly collaborate with private and public partners.

The RF’s success in helping campuses administer their sponsored research programs is strengthening SUNY and promoting New York State’s social and economic well-being.

Contact
For more information about the Research Foundation, contact
Jim Weyhenmeyer, senior vice president for research, at
(518) 434-7014 or james.weyhenmeyer@rfsuny.org.