BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

The McMaster Industry Liaison Office (MILO) supports the research endeavors of McMaster University by facilitating collaborative research with industry partners and disseminating research results through commercialization. MILO is a unit of the Office of the Vice President Research at McMaster University and is looking for a qualified professional to join the Business Development team.

General Description

Responsible for commercializing technologies and negotiating intellectual property agreements between the University and external organizations. Assesses patentability and market potential of University research and develops collaborative relationships between the University and the private sector, and governments. Requires a thorough knowledge of business fundamentals and a scientific field.

Representative Duties & Responsibilities

• Facilitate the creation of University spin-off corporations and subsequent interactions with the University.
• Assume a management or advisory position within spin-off companies on a temporary basis with responsibilities including filing incorporation documents, hiring staff, organizing payroll, liaising with accountants and other service providers, and developing budgets and business plans.
• Develop and execute unique, innovative, and technology specific strategies for the transfer of technology to the private and public sectors.
• Negotiate and prepare intellectual property agreements including option agreements, technology licenses, and inter-institutional commercialization agreements between the University and external organizations.
• Draft and provide guidance on complex network agreements.
• Manage the commercialization of numerous old and new technologies from a broad range of departments on an ongoing basis.
• Negotiate terms and risk management on license agreements on behalf of the University.
• Research and lead the development of new partnerships and collaborations with industrial and government partners.
• Develop and author business plans for start-up companies that include financial, scientific, and strategy details.
• Facilitate activities associated with establishing and maintaining the University's intellectual property protection including, liaising with patent attorneys and other agents.
• Collaborate with others to identify industrial partners and facilitate additional research funding through private partnerships.
• Draft provisional patent applications applying an in-depth scientific knowledge of the subject matter and an understanding of basic patent law.
• Draft intellectual property related agreements for internal use, and non-disclosure agreements between the University and external organizations.
• Educate and inform faculty, staff, researchers, and students on legal and patent issues related to protecting their intellectual property, the University's intellectual property policy, and technology and knowledge transfer.
• Conduct market research and prepare reports on the commercial potential and application of new technology.
• Estimate the potential market size in dollars for a new technology by gathering, compiling, and analyzing financial and market data.
• Travel to various institutions and to potential industrial partners to promote the University's research and technology transfer activities.
• Identify, evaluate, and promote potentially commercializable developments to public and private sector partners.
• Meet with faculty, staff, researchers, and students to discuss their research and assess its commercial potential from a business and intellectual property perspective.
• Evaluate new technologies by searching scientific literature and world patent databases for commercial potential.
• Write commercialization grants and develop materials to support funding opportunities, including commercialization sections in other grant applications.
• Create due diligence reports by comprehending and interpreting specialized data, complex scientific papers and patents, and comparing the features of new technology with the claims of patents that might be related to assess patentability and freedom-to-operate.
• Develop presentations and present information on complex technologies and intellectual property issues to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Gather and compile information required to create marketing material and develop business plans.
• Conduct market research and prepare reports on the commercial potential and application of new technology.
• Provide recommendations on patent and commercialization strategies.
• Coordinate and facilitate meetings between various parties interested in specific technologies.
• Organize, coordinate, and execute promotional events for various audiences.
• Mentor and instruct students, staff, and faculty interested in starting a business as it pertains to intellectual property and technology transfer.
• Update and maintain database information.
• Attend and participate in department meetings.
• Respond to inquiries from internal and external colleagues and collaborators.
• Remain current with state-of-the-art technology to ensure that ideas can be conveyed to potential industry licensees.

Supervision

• Provide direction to others in how to carry out work tasks.
• Ensure adherence to quality standards and procedures for short-term staff and volunteers.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in relevant scientific field.
• Master's degree in Business Administration or related field.
• Requires 4 years of relevant experience.

Assets Specific to the Job Opportunity

• The ideal candidate should have a strong understanding of patent law, intellectual property (IP) protection, and patent prosecution.
• Experience drafting provisional patent applications and working with patent attorneys on patent prosecution is highly desirable.
• This position will deal mainly with intellectual property and research outcomes related to health sciences technologies. As such, education and relevant experience is required.

Should the successful applicant be a Unifor Unit 1 bargaining unit member, who meets the eligibility conditions of Article 19.02 of the Unifor Unit 1 Collective Agreement, then the Limited Term Assignment will be defined as a Career Growth Opportunity in accordance with Article 19 of the Unifor Local 5555 Unit 1 Collective Agreement.