For a week in December 2019, a group of ten university and policy professionals from across Ukraine visited the University of Georgia in Athens to learn about how technology transfer and university/industry research collaboration is done at one of America's top public universities and a leader in bringing university-derived innovation to market.

Oleh Biletskyi - National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”
Vitalii Cherniuk - Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine
Yuriy Danko - Sumy National Agrarian University
Serhii Kyrylovskyi - Stepan Gzhytskyi National University of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnologies, Lviv
Viktoriya Marhasova - Chernihiv National University of Technology
Olena Nifatova - Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design
Tetiana Novorodovska - National Metallurgical Academy of Ukraine, Kharkiv
Nataliia Popova - Cherkasy Bohdan Khmelnytsky National University
Volodymyr Rodchenko - V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University
Maryna Zenova - Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine

The program, designed and led by John DesRosier, advisor to the US-Ukraine Foundation Biotech Initiative, included lectures and visits to facilities on the UGA campus, with ample doses of true Southern hospitality and sunshine.

Staff of the UGA Innovation Gateway explained the role of technology transfer in the university’s mission and the structure and functions of a technology transfer office. Representatives of Innovation Gateway and various other UGA offices provided lectures on topics that included the history of technology transfer in the United States, university and federal regulations, patents and other forms of intellectual property, technology evaluation, marketing and licensing, research collaboration with industry, entrepreneurship and incubation programs for startup companies, finding and engaging with potential investors, and managing a technology transfer program, among others. The Ukrainian delegates also met with two UGA faculty members who have each started multiple companies, as well as a Ukrainian researcher now on the UGA faculty.

The US-Ukraine Foundation would like to thank Rusty Brooks, Associate Director of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, and Derek Eberhart, Associate Vice President for Research and Executive Director of the Innovation Gateway, for hosting the delegation and taking the time to share their knowledge and experience. We would also like to thank each of the speakers:

Cory Acuff, Associate Director of Licensing, Innovation Gateway, UGA
Allan Adams, State Director, University of Georgia Small Business Development Center
Ian Biggs, Director, Startups, Innovation Gateway, UGA
Alan Darvill, Regents Professor and Director, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, UGA
John DesRosier, Advisor to the US-Ukraine Foundation Biotech Initiative
Linda Dodson, Administrative Specialist, Innovation Gateway, UGA
Shelley Fincher, Licensing Manager, Innovation Gateway, UGA
Gennaro J. Gama, Senior Licensing Manager and Marketing Coordinator, Innovation Gateway, UGA
Cheryl L. Junker, Licensing Manger, Innovation Gateway, UGA
Crystal Leach, Director, Industry Collaborations & Professor of Practice, College of Engineering, UGA
Tim Martin, Associate Director, Startup Program, Innovation Gateway, UGA
Richard Meagher, Distinguished Research Professor, Department of Genetics, UGA
Sergiy Minko, Professor of Chemistry, Georgia Power Professor in Fiber and Polymer Science, UGA
Ron Orlando, Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UGA
Tommie Shepherd, Agribusiness Economist, Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development, UGA
Michael Terrazas, Director of Research Communications, UGA
Quentin Thomas, Marketing Manager, Office of Technology Transfer, Emory University
Rachael Widener, Senior Licensing Manager, Innovation Gateway, UGA

PUBLICATIONS

Tetiana Novorodovska - American experience of establishing technology transfer and its implementation in Ukraine