First-of-its-kind campus collaboration will provide USPTO and Commerce resources directly to students, faculty and industry, help accelerate commercialization of new technologies Today Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank was joined by Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) David Kappos and Cornell University President David J. Skorton to announce a groundbreaking agreement between the Commerce Department and Cornell University that will promote growth for American businesses and entrepreneurs. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), and New York City Deputy Mayor Robert Steel also participated in the event.
Acting Secretary Blank announced that for the first time, the resources of a U.S. government agency and a major research institution will join forces to give students and researchers at Cornell’s New York City Tech Campus (Cornell NYC Tech) direct access to resources that will help them bring their ideas to market and grow their businesses.
By installing a permanent staff member of the U.S. Commerce Department at Cornell’s NYC Tech campus, the department will be bringing its full suite of resources to the university community, helping connect students, faculty and mentors to early-stage investors, intellectual property strategies, export assistance tools, government grants, and academic partners. The partnership will help Cornell’s new academic institution break down the traditional boundaries that exist between graduate education and the research and development of technology products.
“This unique partnership between Cornell and the Patent Office will help our city’s exploding tech sector move their innovations from the research lab to the market, and allow the industry to grow the economy and create jobs in a shorter amount of time,” said U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. “Creating a direct link between the patent office and inventors is a simple and virtually cost free way to reduce red tape, and help our best and brightest produce the next iPhone or microchip. When all is said and done, New York City will have the only college in the nation where you can get advice on patenting your latest invention between grabbing a sandwich at the dining hall and picking up your laundry, all without leaving campus.” “This is another step forward for New York City's future,” said U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. “The groundbreaking partnership among Cornell University, the Commerce Department, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will help tomorrow's entrepreneurs start innovative new businesses. Arming Cornell grad students with business assistance resources will go a long way towards turning their extraordinary ideas into reality, creating new jobs and growing New York City’s thriving high-tech industry.” “Cornell NYC Tech has always been envisioned as both a birthplace of new ideas as well as a driver of economic growth,” said Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “This new partnership will help make sure that the new campus becomes both of those things, by creating a close linkage between academics and the real economy. We are all looking forward to seeing innovative new products come to market and create jobs in New York City.” Cornell University, with its academic partner the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, was selected in December 2011 by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to build an applied science and engineering campus in New York City. While currently located in Chelsea, the permanent home of the graduate-level campus will cover a 12-acre site on Roosevelt Island in Manhattan slated to officially open in 2017, with full build out by 2037.
“A key part of Cornell Tech's mission is to encourage innovation and economic development by helping to facilitate all aspects of university, industry, and government collaboration,” said Cornell President David J. Skorton. “This partnership with the Department of Commerce will not only bring a new resource to the campus and to New York's tech entrepreneurs, it will also help create a new dialogue about intellectual property in the information age to help improve the innovation process in the United States.” According to a recent Commerce Department report , intellectual property-intensive industries supported 40 million jobs in 2010, and contributed $5.06 trillion to the U.S. economy. By providing IP protection and commercialization tools for entrepreneurs, this partnership will drive additional job growth and serve as a forum for exploring ways to balance the free flow of information with the protection of IP in a digital era.
For more information about Cornell NYC Tech, please visit http://tech.cornell.edu.
For non-press inquiries pertaining to this joint project agreement, please contact Sue Purvis, Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Greater New York, at sue.purvis[at]uspto[dot]gov.
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Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
