Inteum Scholarships
In 2006, Inteum started offering scholarships to people new to the technology transfer field to attend their first professional technology transfer conference. The scholarship covers their travel expenses and conference registration. Inteum Scholarships started with AUTM regional meetings in the United States and gradually expanded to top conferences in other regions of the world: the KCA Annual Conference in Australia; the ASTP Proton Annual Conference in Europe; and the Praxis-UNICO Annual Conference in United Kingdom.
In the past 10 years, Inteum has sponsored over 70 scholars in attending their first technology transfer professional conference. Many of the recipients have stayed and thrived in the technology transfer field, advancing their careers into leadership roles. Some of the recipients moved to the other side of the industry, joining companies to turn technologies into products. Others ventured into the entrepreneurial world and started their own companies. Inteum is extremely proud of helping all the recipients take off on their journey in technology commercialization.
Below is a short story of one of the first recipients, Dr. Jonathan Ho, who was three months into his position as a licensing associate for the Technology Transfer Office at the University of Notre Dame when he received an Inteum scholarship to attend his first AUTM Central Regional Meeting in 2006. After working in another academic technology office, Dr. Ho joined Sigma-Aldrich as a Business Development Manager. Currently, Dr. Ho is the Licensing Manager at Syngenta.
Jonathan Ho, PhD
Licensing Manager at Syngenta
I was new in the Office of Technology Transfer at the University of Notre Dame and was looking for a way to attend the AUTM Central Regional Meeting. At that time the tech transfer office at the University of Notre Dame was a small office with very modest budget and a staff of two. Having external funding support would greatly increase my chance of being able to attend the AUTM Central Region meeting. I learned about the Inteum Scholarship on the AUTM website, applied and got accepted.
I really enjoyed my first AUTM Central meeting. The number of attendees were relatively small, therefore you get to meet people. Nita Milbourn from Inteum welcomed me to the AUTM meeting and presented the scholarship to me. I was also able to meet the other two recipients and was given an acknowledgement souvenir and Inteum office manager’s contact information for reimbursement.
The most valuable part of the conference was meeting other people in tech transfer. Since my TTO was very small, it was comforting to know that there are people at other universities who encountered some similar problems as me and that I could reach out to them for help. I have remained friends with some of the people I met at that meeting, and the network I was able to establish really helped me grow as a technology manager.
After working at another academic technology transfer office, I joined the former Sigma-Aldrich’s (currently MilliporeSigma) technology scouting team in the chemistry business unit. My experience in academic technology transfer helped me land this job because the hiring manager at Sigma Aldrich was looking specifically for someone who has experience at university technology transfer office.
Looking back, my first AUTM meeting was a great start for my career in technology commercialization and helped immensely in my professional development. Inteum was very generous in providing the funding for my travel and registration for the meeting and I am grateful for that.
For those new to the technology management profession, apply for the Inteum Scholarship if you qualify. The people I met at the AUTM meeting were very helpful to me when I first started, and I would like to, in turn, mentor newcomers to the industry. Technology transfer is a very interesting and engaging field. Keep your mind open and be willing to get out there, mingle with people and grow your network.