Event
Wednesday, September 18, 2024 – Thursday, September 19, 2024
Event Summary
Watch videos from the events here.
On Wednesday, September 18, and Thursday, September 19, 2024, the Bayh-Dole Coalition hosted its second-annual “Faces of American Innovation” award ceremony followed by a day of Capitol Hill briefings on how the technology transfer system established by the Bayh-Dole Act empowers American innovation. Wednesday’s award ceremony honored the 2024 recipients of the Bayh-Dole Coalition American Innovator Award whose achievements are featured in the 2024 “Faces of American Innovation” report:
- Shafiqul Chowdhury, a professor at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine and senior member of the National Academy of Inventors, who developed a vaccine for bovine respiratory disease to reinforce food supplies and prevent virus mutations that could affect humans.
- Rachel Dorin, the founder and CEO of TeraPore Technologies, who developed the Intelligent Membrane platform to filter impurities out of drugs, making them safe for patients to ingest.
- Ashok Gadgil, a professor at UC Berkeley and researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who invented UV Waterworks, which uses ultraviolet light to purify water on-site in communities lacking potable supplies.
- Hong Hua, a professor at the University of Arizona, who developed eSight — a pair of electronic glasses that help the legally blind see.
- Katharine Ku, a former executive director at Stanford University Office of Technology Licensing, who pioneered a licensing program that set a national standard and facilitated the industrial application of historic inventions like recombinant DNA and the Google search algorithm.
Following an introduction from Bayh-Dole Coalition Executive Director Joseph P. Allen, the 2024 American Innovator Award Ceremony commenced on Wednesday, September 18, at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center with opening remarks from Steve Kousouris, executive director of technology transfer at Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures, and Brian O’Shaughnessy, board chair for the Bayh-Dole Coalition.
After receiving their awards, each recipient was invited to discuss their research and the role the Bayh-Dole Act played in their journey.
Following the ceremony, Joseph P. Allen moderated a panel discussion on “The Bayh-Dole Miracle,” featuring 2024 American Innovator Award recipient and Chief Licensing Advisor at Wilson Sonsini Katharine Ku, President and CEO of the Center for Strategic and International Studies John Hamre, and Bayh-Dole Coalition Board Chair Brian O’Shaughnessy.
On Thursday, September 19, 2024 the Bayh-Dole Coalition hosted its second-annual “Faces of American Innovation” Capitol Hill briefing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The briefing opened with remarks from Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA-4), who highlighted the positive impact the Bayh-Dole Act has had on his home district and the nation as a whole and the threat of the march-in framework proposed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology in December 2023.
Katherine Bayh, spouse of the late Senator Birch Bayh (D-IN), followed with remarks on the life and legacy of her husband. Joseph P. Allen then moderated a panel briefing on the 2024 “Faces of American Innovation” report with the five awardees featured in the report. They discussed the impact of the Bayh-Dole Act on their research journey and how the technology transfer system established by the Bayh-Dole Act supports U.S. innovation.
Following the briefing, the five 2024 Bayh-Dole Coalition American Innovator Award recipients and members of the Bayh-Dole Coalition met with more than two dozen congressional offices to discuss the significance of the Bayh-Dole Act, its impact on American innovation, and its positive contribution to the U.S. economy.
You can find the event’s highlight reel and additional photos below!
