Expired Postings

Responsibilities

The Director, Business Development will provide leadership to a team of professionals in order to develop and implement strategies to enhance commercialization and entrepreneurship opportunities at Western. The Director will exercise leadership and mentorship to the Medical Innovation Fellowship (MIF) program in collaboration with the Executive Director, WORLDiscoveries. The incumbent will seek out funding opportunities and maintain relationships for the MIF program from industry, donors, government and other stakeholders. The Director will reinforce and advance the reputations for Western, WORLDiscoveries, BrainsCAN and MIF locally, nationally and internationally, and ensure that strategies are developed for the successful implementation and execution of the program.

We are looking to fill an entry level position with a recent graduate of an Engineering or Natural Sciences undergraduate or graduate program.

This position will provide an opportunity for the successful incumbent to acquire training on technology commercialization and spin-off creation and to assist the team during patent filing/prosecution activities.  Working under the supervision of the Sr. Business Development Manager, Engineering & Natural Sciences group, the incumbent will assist the team with the commercialization of intellectual property created by Western Faculty researchers, students and staff. The incumbent’s responsibilities may include participating in the analysis of patents, market and industry trends, generating market and competitive intelligence and providing assistance with grant applications and marketing material.

The Patent Agent is responsible for directing and managing all aspects of patent prosecution for technologies from the Life Sciences sector assigned to the university. Through collaboration with Business Development Managers (BDMs), inventors and external partners, the incumbent is responsible for conceiving and coordinating patenting strategies that align with the commercialization plan for each technology in the portfolio. The Patent Agent is also responsible for preparing and filing technical legal documents including patent applications and responses to office actions. The incumbent will provide effective decision making strategies regarding patenting, trade secrets, defensive publications, etc. The Patent Agent is responsible for the management of the patent budget and Intellectual Property aspects from over 100 ongoing license agreements as needed.

WORLDiscoveries is the technology transfer office that commercializes research from Western University, Robarts Research Institute, and Lawson Health Research Institute (London’s local hospitals). WORLDiscoveries assists researchers in commercializing their discoveries through licensing to existing companies and creating new companies (spinoffs). WORLDiscoveries is located in the Western Discovery Park, adjacent to the university campus on the north side of Windermere Road, in London Ontario.

Reporting to the Manager, Business Development, the Business Development Officer (Research Associate) will primarily be responsible for providing services to Researchers from the Lawson Health Research Institute in matters related to the protection and management of intellectual property resulting from their research and industry interactions. This role includes analysis of inventions from patentability and commercial potential and making critical arguments for investment decisions.