The inaugural O-Corps workshop of the Regional Accelerator and Innovation Network (RAIN) will begin in January 2014 with a series of weekly sessions designed to guide researchers through the process of innovation development.

This winter’s program is intended for graduate students and post-doc researchers working in human physiology who are interested in learning more about how research can be moved from the laboratory and into public or commercial use.

“O” stands for both Opportunity and Oregon. O Corps represents building Opportunity in Oregon, in the global knowledge based economy, said Chuck Williams, assistant vice president for innovation.

O Corps will build Oregon’s capability in its emerging research talent base by educating graduate students and postdocs, and providing workshops in real research time with relevance to the current projects of graduate students and postdocs. O Corps Workshops are based on market themes that match with UO’s excellence in research and scholarship.  

“In today’s competitive academic environment, researchers with sharp communication skills and an understanding of the innovation development process are at a distinct advantage,” Williams said. “The O-Corps workshops will give our researchers an edge in developing the tools they need to conduct ‘informed research’ and leverage their discoveries into successful solutions that will provide a catalyst for the creation of new technology-based companies in the South Willamette Valley.”

The RAIN network was established by the Oregon legislature as a cooperative effort between the state of Oregon, public universities, municipalities, economic development organizations, industry and private corporate interests to accelerate the current rate of new technology business formation and job creation. RAIN helps researchers and technologists spin off and build new private companies that create job for Oregonians.

“RAIN provides emerging companies with the human resources and infrastructure they need to succeed and O Corps is a key component of those efforts,” said Kimberly Andrews Espy, the UO’s vice president for research and innovation and dean of the graduate school. “By focusing on navigating the process of innovation development, the program assures that we are making the most of our greatest asset — research from our talented faculty, graduate students and post docs.”

Hosted by Linda Hansen of Innovation Partnership Services, in conjunction with the UO Graduate School, the six-week inaugural workshop will feature an interdisciplinary panel of speakers from across the Oregon innovation ecosystem. Skip Rung, executive director of ONAMI, and Chris Larson, senior director of industry partnerships in Innovation Partnership Services, will provide perspectives on collaboration between Oregon public universities, industry and the investment community. Andrew Nelson, professor of management in the Lundquist College of Business, will address the economics of innovation and technology, and industry experts Lance Hopman of SAM Medical, David Eastman of Gamma Therapeutics, and Calden Carroll of the UO startup SupraSensor will provide an inside view of three successful Oregon medical technology companies. In addition to the guest lectures, participants in the workshop will give presentations about their own work and participate in classroom lectures and discussions.

The program will guide participants through the innovation development process, from learning how to identify and describe the public benefit and relevance of research as part of writing a successful grant application, to learning how to identify future markets and end users and developing a market analysis, and finally to negotiating FDA regulations and intellectual property management issues as the product or service is brought to the market.

The workshop will be held on Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., beginning in January and is open to researchers in Human Physiology only. To reserve a space or learn more about the O-Corps workshops, email Linda Hansen at lphansen@uoregon.edu.

- from the UO office of Research, Innovation and Graduate Education