On July 1, 2013 the Old Queens Bell was rung to mark a historic event for higher education in New Jersey – the integration of Rutgers with most of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. On that date the New Jersey Medical and Health Sciences Education Restructuring Act went into effect, changing the historic configuration of UMDNJ schools and units. Seven of the eight UMDNJ schools became part of a restructured Rutgers University. The UMDNJ-School of Osteopathic Medicine joined with Rowan University, and the University Hospital became a free-standing instrumentality of the State of New Jersey.
According to the last UMDNJ-Annual Institutional Profile published on June 30, 2013, UMDNJ had dramatically increased patenting and licensing activity over the last several years. Rutgers acquired 341 patent applications and patents and 127 licenses from UMDNJ upon the merger. Currently, the Rutgers University Office of Technology Commercialization is managing over 1,500 U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications.
The web page of the Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) at Rutgers is a rich source of information about IP activities at the institution, including financial figures indicating a dramatic change in licensing revenue from $6 million in fiscal year 2012 to $16.6 million in fiscal year 2013 for the “New” Rutgers. A nice feature on the web site is the congratulatory list of Rutgers inventors who were recently issued patents – see http://otc.rutgers.edu/faculty/PatentHallofFame.
Efforts at the Library of Science and Medicine this fall resulted in the successful setup of a new patent workstation for SEAS access. A computer capable of running the required Windows 7 was acquired when the computer previously ordered for the Chemistry Library was no longer needed there. The Chemistry Library was officially and permanently closed at the end of August. (That library’s collections will be integrated at LSM or sent to storage). The computer running Windows XP was retained for use with the CASSIS products, and to allow printing from the USAPAT etc. DVD-ROMs.
Rutgers students attending the Scientific and Technical Writing classes had many patent questions, and these along with questions from independent inventors and small business investors kept Connie Wu in particular pretty busy. Connie also taught the popular Byrne seminar on Innovation and Intellectual Property in the fall semester. This one credit course is open to freshman only, lasts for 10 weeks, and was attended by 17 freshmen in the fall of 2013. Class size for the seminars is limited to 20 students.
In July of 2013, Connie gave a two hour lecture on “IP Management in American Universities.” The lecture was part of the Chinese University Administrator Training programs organized by the Rutgers University China Office. The lecture was attended by 36 vice presidents, deans, and directors from 7 Chinese universities. Connie gave the same lecture again in August, and at that time it was attended by 29 vice presidents, deans, and directors from 16 Chinese universities. For more information about the program, visit the China Office web page http://china.rutgers.edu/
In November, Connie was invited to give a presentation in China at Wuhan University titled “US IPR Introduction to Patent Management And Licensing,” an Advanced Seminar on Digital Content IPR Strategic Management.