Dates and Times
25 May 2023
15:00 - 15:45
Event for
Location
Address: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/hidden-riskschallenges-over-rewards-for-an-academic-entrepreneur-tickets-619548465137
Organiser
Knowledge Commercialisation Australia - ACT
Speakers
Prof Kazuhiro Ito
Enquiry
E-Jen Teh
Event about:
KCA ACT Webinar - Hidden risks/challenges over rewards for an academic entrepreneur
Academic researchers usually focus on basic science for advancing scientific understanding. However, this does not fully fulfil the needs of big pharma as they increasingly look for more mature drug candidates to reduce the risk rather than original medicine through in-house drug discovery work. Although academic inventors/entrepreneurs are stepping in to fill this gap in the discovery pipelines, the support system is not fully established. For an academic entrepreneur, there are a lot of potential rewards but they also face several challenges that are unique for individuals operating in the intersect of basic research, R&D, clinical translation, public/private funding and entrepreneurship. This talk will uncover hidden risk/challenges of academic entrepreneurship through Prof Ito’s own experiences in setting up 3 companies in the span of 15 years.
About the speaker
Professor Kazuhiro Ito, Faculty of Medicine, National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College London
Prof Ito has had a unique career due to his combination of academia, industry and biotech work experiences. His work has ranged from basic/translational/applied molecular and pharmacology science to clinical science in respiratory diseases with a particular focus on respiratory inflammation and infection. He was a former Reader of Respiratory Cell & Molecular Biology in NHLI, Imperial College, and served as Honorary Principal Research fellow for more than 13 years. He has authored and co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications and book-chapters and was also involved in successful research funding acquisition from Wellcome-trust, MRC, asthmaUK and many industries.
He co-founded the Imperial Spin-Off company RespiVert Ltd. in 2007 in Imperial Bioincubator. The success of this program resulted, after just three years, in the company being purchased and becoming an operational division of Janssen Pharmaceuticals (J&J). He there continued the transition to clinical development of the compounds as head of Biology. More recently, he also co-founded Pulmocide Ltd. in 2014. He has contributed to series of funding from investors and many patent applications.
Zoom link will be provided upon registration via Eventbrite link.
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