In a novel move, the Cornell NYC campus, a collaboration between the Ivy League school and Israel’s Technion, will get its own patent officer.
The school, blessed by NYC Mayor Bloomberg with $100M in funding , is designed to bridge the gaps between technology study and entrepreneurship. Having an in-house patent officer could make the school and its attendees a force to reckon with in bringing new ideas to market.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
[bra_blockquote align=””]A U.S. Patent and Trademark Office staffer already is working at the Cornell NYC Tech applied sciences school’s temporary locale at Google’s Manhattan office, where the school is set to enroll its first class next year. The patent office has recently unveiled plans for satellite offices in places ranging from Detroit to California’s Silicon Valley. But the “innovation and outreach coordinator” at Cornell NYC Tech is a novel effort to help innovators on campus — and in the city at large — get advice on capitalizing on their ideas, Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank and patent office Director David Kappos said.[/bra_blockquote] Remember, the campus (currently functioning out of Google’s offices in the city), will eventually have 2 million square feet of applied science and engineering buildings on Roosevelt Island.
Why Israel and Technology Transfer
It’s interesting that an Israeli institution won the role of partnering in the NYC project. Israel’s academic institutions have a long tradition of in-licensing technology developed by their students and professors including
- Weizmann Institute and The Yeda Research and Development Company
- Technion’s T3 program
- Hadassah Hospital’s Hadassit group
According to Bloomberg, the Cornell NYC project is also aimed at creating and luring new tech jobs to NYC.
image from Bloomberg
