Seminar: Translational Research and Technology Commercialization in Academia presented by Dr. Yongmin Kim

A challenging mission that many research-oriented universities face in addition to education and research is creating new value and contributing to humanity through our research endeavors.  In addition to producing future leaders and well-trained workforce in our students, universities are expected to develop novel innovations, remarkable discoveries and breakthrough technologies by working on high-risk research and making what people believe impossible possible.  Although many pioneering discoveries are being made and new exciting technologies are being developed in academia, even the most promising technologies face numerous obstacles in technology commercialization.  They typically languish and die in the valley of death, frustrating the researchers, administrators, and angel investors/venture capitalists alike.

Translational research from lab bench to the marketplace where products and services are provided and consumed is far more complicated, difficult and time-consuming than many people estimate or are willing to tolerate.  For the benefit of humanity and a better future, on the other hand, our mission points us to incessantly engineering innovations with creativity, collaboration and perseverance.  To make the (seemingly) impossible possible takes courage, confidence and competence with partnership, patience and determination.  Also, we have to get out from our comfortable silo and break down the walls between researchers, laboratories, departments/disciplines and institutions. In this presentation, Dr. Kim will share his experiences and opinions on the obstacles and formula of success (& failure) in translational research and how and when WRF could be of help to researchers in navigating through this technology commercialization process.

Dr. Yongmin Kim received BS degree in electronics engineering from Seoul National University in 1975, and MS and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from University of Wisconsin in 1979 and 1982, respectively. From 1982 to 2011, he was Professor of Bioengineering, and of Electrical Engineering, and Adjunct Professor of Radiology and Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle.  From 1999 to 2007, he served as Chair of Bioengineering.  In September 2011, he became President of Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in South Korea.  Since September 2015, he has been on leave from POSTECH to work as Advisor to Washington Research Foundation.

His research interests include medical imaging and computing, ultrasound systems, distributed diagnosis and home healthcare, and computer architecture.  Dr. Kim and his research group have made 85 inventions that have led to ~70 patents, transferred the invented technologies to industry with 27 licenses, and helped commercialization of these technologies.  He has more than 450 research publications. Dr. Kim received many awards and recognitions one of which is his recognition as the UW Medicine Inventor of the Year.