Welcome to the Bayh-Dole Bulletin, a monthly newsletter from the Bayh-Dole Coalition. The Bayh-Dole Coalition is a diverse group of innovation-oriented organizations and individuals committed to celebrating and protecting the Bayh-Dole Act, as well as informing policymakers and the public of its many benefits.
As you’ve seen by now, the Bayh-Dole Coalition has another stellar class of American Innovator Award winners this year, who we’ll be honoring at our events in Washington, D.C., on June 4 and 5. Our award winners embody the promise of the Bayh-Dole system, which is now entering its 45th year — a significant milestone that we’ll also be recognizing.
At a time of great uncertainty when questions are being raised about the “return on investment” that hard-pressed taxpayers receive for the dollars invested in our academic and federal research institutions, the stories of the dedication, sacrifice and courage shown by our American Innovator Award winners making lives better here and around the world are already resonating. For the first time, we have two federal employees receiving our award. Their stories illustrate the ideal of what “civil service” is all about.
Soon, decisions will be made about the future of federally funded research across all agencies. Fundamental questions are being asked that haven’t been posed in decades. Now is the time to get our message out. We have a good one which we can back not only with stories like our Faces of American Innovation, but with real data of the impact the Bayh-Dole system has made — and can make — on our economic growth and public well-being. We will be taking that message to Capitol Hill on June 5 as we introduce this year’s award winners and visit key Congressional stakeholders.
I hope you can join us. Here’s the link to register.
Thanks for your support!
In just a few days, we will host our 2025 Faces of American Innovation events, which are taking place on June 4-5 in Washington, D.C. RSVP here!
On June 4, we will honor our 2025 American Innovator Award recipients with a ceremony and celebrate Bayh-Dole’s 45th anniversary at the Royal Sonesta Capitol Hill. We are excited to hear remarks from Coke Morgan Stewart, Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting Director of the USPTO, in addition to a Q&A with Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC-02) and virtual remarks from Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC).
This year’s American Innovator Awardees are:
On June 5, we will host a briefing for the 2025 “Faces of American Innovation” report in the Senate Visitors Center, Room SVC 203-02, where we will hear remarks from and a Q&A withRep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA-03).
We hope to see you next week to celebrate these inspiring innovators!
The morning programming for each day will be open to the public. The afternoon programming will be exclusive to Bayh-Dole Coalition members — if you are interested in becoming a member and having access to these exclusive portions, apply here.
Does your organization have an upcoming event? We’d love to feature it in our newsletter and events calendar! Submit the information here.
This month’s member spotlight is Dr. Carol Mimura, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Intellectual Property & Industry Research Alliances (IPIRA) at the University of California, Berkeley! Dr. Mimura came to UC Berkeley as a postdoctoral fellow in biochemistry, where she performed research and was exposed to the business side of science. After gaining experience in the private sector, she later joined UC Berkeley’s Office of Technology Licensing and, in 2004, established IPIRA. She credits her talented staff with spinning out more than 300 startups based on Berkeley IP rights and increasing the number of industrial sponsors of research from 100 to more than 1,400 companies, advancing innovations in fields including medicine, cleantech, robotics, and new materials. In 2023, Dr. Mimura received the Bayh-Dole Coalition’s inaugural American Innovator Award for commercializing Nobel Prize-winning research that led to the revolutionary cancer immunotherapy Yervoy™. The Coalition is grateful to have Dr. Mimura as a member and a passionate advocate for the virtuous cycle of innovation fostered by the Bayh-Dole Act.
“Since 1993, I have had the privilege of witnessing the impact of the Bayh-Dole Act firsthand. Take James P. Allison’s groundbreaking immunotherapy, Yervoy™, for example. Had UC Berkeley not been allowed to patent and license his work, thanks to the Bayh-Dole Act, that discovery might never have progressed beyond experiments in mice to reach human clinical trials, and ultimately, the market, offering a life-saving treatment to millions of cancer patients. The FDA’s approval of Yervoy™ in 2011 also jump-started worldwide investment in the immunotherapy field.* UC Berkeley used a portion of the profits from licensing its patent to finance a new research building where broad applications of its next Nobel-prize-winning research, CRISPR, led by Jennifer Doudna, were being developed. Bayh-Dole enables the translation of high-risk research into real-world solutions and fuels a continuous cycle of discovery, translation, and reinvestment into the research enterprise. The Bayh-Dole Act bolsters scientific progress, economic prosperity, and national security by supporting research and education that fosters innovation and trains future scientists.” — Dr. Carol Mimura, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Intellectual Property & Industry Research Alliances (IPIRA), at the University of California, Berkeley
*President Jimmy Carter, who signed the Bayh-Dole Act, himself benefited from immunotherapy. I wonder if he felt a sense of awe and validation that a law that he signed into existence prolonged his life and the lives of many others around the world.
If you’re interested in formally joining the Bayh-Dole Coalition or donating to our organization, please do so below!