Director of Innovation Services – KUCTC

TechPipeline, Inc.; Lawrence (KS); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental and vision coverage

Paid time off and holidays

Retirement plan

Job summary

The University of Kansas Medical Center seeks a Director of Innovation Services to lead the innovation ecosystem across KU and KU Medical Center. The role drives IP awareness, partnerships, and programs to maximize discoveries' impact.

Reporting to the Executive Director of KUCTC, the Director collaborates with licensing, KU Innovation Park, and other units to build a strong commercialization pipeline and support researchers through to market. This is a full-time position based in Lawrence, KS.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required in a relevant field.
• Four (4) years of experience in technology transfer, IP, university research environments, and entrepreneurship ecosystems.

Responsibilities

• Innovation scouting with researchers to identify commercially viable IP and disclosures.
• Lead IP education and training programs with KU partners to build capacity in technology transfer.
• Develop and sustain a pipeline of internal and external innovation projects and opportunities.
• Support gap funding activities for pre-license validation and prototyping.
• Collaborate with the licensing team, KU Innovation Park, and related units to maximize impact.
• Track KU startups and connect them with partners and resources to support growth.

Skills

Communication

Presentations

Technology transfer

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field

Job description

The University of Kansas Medical Center: Director of Innovation Services – KUCTC

Share

Print

Bookmark

The Director, Innovation Services supports all of KU including the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, the KU Center for Technology Commercialization (KUCTC) seeks to manage discoveries and innovations arising from KU research so that they may have greater impact, benefit the public, and promote economic development. Reporting to the Executive Director of KUCTC, the Director, Innovation Services, is a senior member of KUCTC working alongside the KUCTC licensing team and in collaboration with other KU units to grow the innovation and commercialization pipelines resulting from research for KU. The Director plays a key role and force multiplier, increasing engagement, building capacity, and assisting innovators in navigating internal and external innovation resources.

Job Description:

Key Roles and Responsibilities:

• Innovation Scouting–Works with academic and clinical researchers to raise Intellectual Property (IP) awareness, foster innovation, and identify discoveries, inventions, and other innovations with commercial potential for disclosure to KUCTC. Develops and executes outreach strategies to increase engagement with KUCTC and disclosure of new inventions across KU campuses and disciplines
• Training/Education– Leads collaboration with other KU innovation ecosystem partners (examples – School of Business, Research Administration, Office of Economic Development, KU Innovation Park) to create and deliver formalized IP, technology transfer, and entrepreneurial training programs to university research communities.
• Pipeline Building– Cultivates a pipeline of prospective projects for internal KU innovation and commercialization programing as well as specific external opportunities.
• Gap Fund– Will assist in the seeking of resources to support the creation of a “gap” or other early innovation funds at KU to support pre-license validation, POC, prototyping or technology maturation efforts. Will lead KUCTC efforts to engage with external opportunities for gap funding.
• Collaboration & Connections– Work collaboratively with KUCTC’s licensing team, KU Innovation Park partners, university I-Corp team, and others within the KU innovation ecosystem to achieve impact from technology transfer, commercialization, and new venture creation activities.
• Track– Serves as a consistent resource and point of contact within the University for KU startup companies. Maintains metrics regarding KU startups (examples – investments, follow-on funding, employment numbers, location). In collaboration with KU Innovation Park, works to connect KU startups to partners and resources to aid their growth and development.
• Consultation & Navigation– Serves as an early point of contact for researchers, providing guidance and assistance as they explore technology transfer, commercialization, entrepreneurship, and new venture creation. Serves as an valued resource for researchers regarding University policies and practices related to new venture creation. Serves as a connector to supporting resources within and external to KU.

Work Location:

Lawrence, KS or Kansas City, KS (with collaboration across KU campus locations)

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. It is only a summary of the typical functions of the job, not an exhaustive list of all possible job responsibilities, tasks, duties, and assignments. Furthermore, job duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Required Qualifications:

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field of study.

Work Experience:

Four (4) years of experience in position that required knowledge of technology transfer, intellectual property, university research environments, innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems, startup formation, SBIR/STTR funding, innovation programming, research administration, and higher education organizational structures. Education may be substituted for experience on a year for year basis.

Preferred Qualifications:

Work Experience

• Prior experience working in higher ed or university research.
• Prior experience in licensing IP, technology transfer, or new venture creation.
• Prior experience delivering workshops, presenting commercialization concepts, developing outreach materials, building collaborative relationships.

Skills

• Communication
• Presentations
• Technology transfer

Required Documents

• Resume

Coverage begins on day one for health, dental, and vision insurance and includes health expense accounts with generous employer contributions if the employee participates in a qualifying health plan. Employer-paid life insurance, long-term disability insurance, and various additional voluntary insurance plans are available. Paid time off, including vacation and sick, begins accruing upon hire, plus ten paid holidays. One paid discretionary day is available after six months of employment, and paid time off for bereavement, jury duty, military service, and parental leave is available after 12 months of employment. A retirement program with a generous employer contribution and additional voluntary retirement programs (457 or 403b) are available. https://www.kumc.edu/human-resources/benefits.html

Employee Type:

Regular

Time Type:

Full time

Rate Type:

Compensation Statement:

The pay range listed for this position is determined by our compensation program using market data and salary benchmarking. A combination of factors is considered in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, education, experience and training, qualifications relative to the requirements of the position, and funding. At the University of Kansas Medical Center, a reasonable estimate for the starting pay range will be the minimum to midpoint of the posted range, taking into account the combination of factors listed above.