How Can You Partner With Pitt? Let Me Count the Ways

The Innovation Institute partners with many organizations across Pitt to advance innovation and entrepreneurship. The Office of Economic Partnerships (OEP) is  our sister organization involved in engaging industry and other external stakeholders with the University. In this guest post, the OEP manager of partnerships Paul-Valentin Pitou recounts his attendance last month at the JP Morgan Health care Conference in San Francisco, and the many ways external stakeholders can partner with Pitt.

Paul Pitou

January was my first time in California and my first time attending the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. After spending Sunday exploring Muir Woods National Monument under a rain that seemed to be coming straight from my native Brittany, France, I came to explore the forest of business suits that had invaded downtown San Francisco for the week.

 “I have been attending this conference for over twenty years now. I do not really enjoy it, but it is kind of a must,” said a President & CEO in my first meeting. Although I appreciated the warning, my experience turned out to be rather positive and exciting! In two days, I bounced between meetings with three venture capital funds, four biopharma companies, three biotechnology companies, two drug discovery/development companies and a newly launched platform for sharing research ideas between academia and industry.

In all these meetings the discussions revolved around how to best partner to reach our respective goals. At the Office of Economic Partnerships, our goal is to build and nurture broad mutually beneficial partnerships with industry, government, and economic development organizations.

We are looking for assets that are R&D ready, within five years,” said a director in one meeting. This echoed through the week as these companies seemed eager to put their hands on technologies ready to generate cash. “We believe it is no longer sustainable to spend resources on researching diseases individually. Therefore, we now look at areas like aging and organize our R&D accordingly,”  said another company CEO.

This multidisciplinary approach has already been adopted by the University of Pittsburgh. For example, the Aging Institute involves multiple schools from Pitt Health Sciences, such as the School of Pharmacy, and School of Dental Medicine, in addition to the School of Social Work.

We exited Parkinson's and Alzheimer's” said a representative from one of the world’s major biopharmaceutical firms, “In fact, we don’t do neurology anymore except for rare diseases”. Noted.

One of my last meeting concluded on this note: “We intend on increasing open innovation and partnering.” I was delighted to hear that our message of partnering with Pitt is well aligned with industry strategies. Our primary message for the week was that the University of Pittsburgh partners with people in several ways:

Develop technology and products
We are one of the country’s largest academic research centers, home to state-of-the-art facilities, world-class research and some of the world’s foremost experts across a broad range of disciplines

Conduct research with Pitt faculty experts
Pitt’s faculty and research staff are known for the wide breadth and depth of their research. We make it easy and affordable for our partners to add our subject matter experts to your team as you need them.

License Pitt innovations
Pitt researchers may already have the technology you’re looking for. Ask us to introduce you to researchers in your subject matter of interest to see if you can license existing technology from our deep portfolio of IP.

Deepen your talent pool by recruiting Pitt students
Every year Pitt attracts some of the finest students in the country and we can help you find those with just the right skill set and experience to make a difference in your organization.

Train your employees through a wide variety of professional development programs
We can help you get the most out of your greatest competitive advantage -- your people. We can help you develop a customized curriculum to train new staff or prepare existing workers for your next phase of growth.

Increase your brand visibility on Pitt campus through strategic advertising and philanthropic investments
We can help you create a campus branding program to increase your company’s visibility and teach students about your company’s values, corporate culture, and identity.

Access Pitt core facilities and key labs
Leverage Pitt’s world-class facilities, labs, and equipment to address your research needs in life sciences, engineering, computing, and beyond.

Engage in community development programs
We design and implement community development programs that bring students, faculty, civic leaders and involved citizens together to build stronger and more resilient communities. Our goal is to empower people with the skills they need to effect transformative change in their communities.

To learn more about partnering, please contact oep@pitt.edu.
For licensing Pitt innovations, contact the Innovation Institute at innovate@pitt.edu.

While I’m looking forward to more JPM conversations in 2020, Pitt is also preparing for similar conversations at the BIO International Conference this June in Philadelphia. Come see us in the Life Sciences Pennsylvania pavilion!

 

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