Florida State University is redoubling its efforts to commercialize faculty research and partner with businesses across the country that can benefit from the intellectual capital available at a top-tier research university.
As a key part of these efforts, the FSU Office of Research has hired Mike Campbell as the university’s first Chief Business and Industry Liaison, a position designed to develop partnerships between the university and companies. University tech transfer offices typically start with researchers and their work, and one important innovation in this position will be tackling the partnership from the opposite end — working with companies to discover and meet their needs.
“Innovation can happen in many corners of the university,” said Interim Vice President for Research Laurel Fulkerson. “We know that there are many researchers here who would benefit from partnerships with the brightest minds in business, and that there are also many businesses that could succeed with help from our faculty. The key is bringing them together, and I am thrilled that we now have someone solely focused on that.”
Prior to joining the FSU Office of Research, Campbell served as the Director of North Florida Operations for The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship for more than nine years where he helped CEOs and business owners grow their companies. Campbell also has more than 18 years of experience in the financial industry and is the former owner of two successful businesses. He is passionate about assisting companies in being successful.
In addition to helping bring companies and researchers together, he will provide technical assistance to companies when they are applying for the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Research (SBIR/STTR) programs.
“FSU has great research assets that can be very valuable to companies,” Campbell said. “What we need to do is get out there and show companies how they can partner with us and utilize what we have at this great university. We want them to know that Florida State is open for business.”
Campbell will report to Director of Commercialization Brent Edington. The Office of Commercialization is responsible for licensing faculty member research to commercial entities.
“Moving a university technology from campus out into the marketplace and seeing the impact it can have is a major part of our operation,” Edington said. “But there is so much more potential for us to innovate and create with external partners. I’m thrilled that Mike is here to help us do that.”
For more information about the Business & Industry Solutions, SBIR/STTR programs and the assets within the Office of Research at Florida State University, contact Mike Campbell at mscampbell@fsu.edu.