IMPEL Webinar 1: Building Technologies to Market Mechanisms

Media > IMPEL Webinar 1: Building Technologies to Market Mechanisms

October 5, 2018

Elsie Quaite Randall, Chief Technology Transfer Officer, Berkeley Lab, describes models of lab-industry partnerships, that can help scale R&D into commercialization. This is intended to inform building technologies and software tools researchers, and potential industry collaborators about the partnering and IP mechanisms that can support and encourage partnerships.

Corinne A. Allen from the DOE Office of Tech Transfer provides a short presentation on Build4Scale. It trains energy hardware innovators to avoid the common pitfalls of product design by teaching them manufacturing design fundamentals in the early stages of prototype development, and provides them with the information they need to work with manufacturers on first production runs.

Speaker Bios

Elsie Quaite Randall

Chief Technology Transfer Officer, Intellectual Property Office, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Elsie is a recognized expert in developing new, effective models for moving technologies from the lab to the marketplace, where they can benefit the public. Her expertise aligns with the department's goal to grow researcher, industry, and entrepreneurial engagement at Berkeley Lab with the goal of transitioning the technologies to the marketplace. Elsie's education and experience in scientific research, intellectual property management, technology commercialization, and startups make her uniquely qualified to innovate the field of technology transfer. Her insights into the goals and concerns of all stakeholders — from research scientists and patent attorneys to industry representatives and entrepreneurs — have enabled her to build symbiotic relationships and find synergies among these diverse groups. Previously, she was a molecular biologist and biochemist at Argonne and Brookhaven National Laboratories. Her interest in managing scientists' intellectual property led her to pass the U.S. Patent Bar exam and become a patent agent at Argonne. Elsie then moved on to manage IP development, commercialization and marketing for Argonne's Office of Technology Transfer. After successfully innovating IP review, licensing strategies, and private sector partnerships at Argonne, she joined McMaster University in Canada as Executive Director of the Industry Liaison Office. At McMaster, Elsie developed and implemented a strategic plan to manage university IP and identify industry partners and licensees for lab technologies. She built relationships with local business communities and encouraged a culture of commercialization within the university. She created PreInc, a pre-incubation space that supports McMaster researchers starting new companies. She also led the C4 Network, a collaborative initiative with ten Ontario universities and research institutions, fostering innovation and commercialization.

Corinne Allen

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science & Technology Policy Fellow, U.S. Department of Energy

Corinne Allen is currently an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the US Department of Energy. Last September, she began in Technology-to-Market in the office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy where she helped launch Build4Scale, manufacturing fundamentals training, and the American Inventions Made Onshore (AIM Onshore) prize competition. In April, she moved to the Office of Technology Transitions and helped release the Lab Partnering Service. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from UC San Diego under the direction of Prof. Seth M. Cohen. Her research studied the ability for Metal-Organic Frameworks, crystalline molecular sponges, to be manipulated for specific end-use applications. Prior to DOE, she worked for a Cyclotron Road light-activated 3D printing startup, polySpectra, out of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She earned an M.S. in Chemistry from UC San Diego and a B.S. with Honors in Chemistry from the University of Oregon.