Current Events

NEW TIME AND LOCATION: This lecture will now be hosted on a Zoom Webinar and the program will begin at 4:00 pm.

Join us for the 2021 Birch Bayh Virtual Lecture titled Reversing the Tide: the Bayh-Dole Act and the Renewal of American Innovation featuring Joseph P. Allen, Executive Director, Bayh-Dole Coalition on Tuesday, October 19th at 4:00 pm (NEW TIME).

Zoom webinar registration: https://go.iu.edu/45pZ

The Economist Technology Quarterly stated: “Possibly the most inspired piece of legislation to be enacted in the past half century was the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980… More than anything, this single policy measure helped to reverse America’s precipitous slide into industrial irrelevance.”

Before Bayh-Dole, federal funding was the kiss of death to commercializing break through inventions.  The government policy was to take inventions which received even a small percentage of their support, making them available to any and all.  While well meaning, this policy removed any incentives for the creators to undertake the extensive time and money needed to turn early-stage discoveries into useful products.  As a result, more than 28,000 government-supported inventions were gathering dust on the shelves before Bayh-Dole. Even worse, not a single drug had been developed under these policies.
Because of the efforts of Senators Birch Bayh and Robert Dole, this waste of billions of dollars of taxpayer supported R&D came to an end, renewing America’s leadership in innovation. Even though they were from opposite ends of the political spectrum, Bayh and Dole overcame incredible odds to get their legislation enacted and changed the course of history.  

We will discuss how this remarkable law was created, the incredible story of its enactment and what it has done to make life better here and around the world.

Bio:

Joe Allen served on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for Senator Birch Bayh (D-IN) securing passage of the Bayh-Dole Act which fostered R&D partnerships between universities and U.S. industry.  The Economist Technology Quarterly called this law “possibly the most inspired piece of legislation to be enacted in America over the past half century.” On leaving the Senate staff, Joe was Executive Director of Intellectual Property Owners, Inc. (IPO) where he worked to create the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit before going to the U.S. Department of Commerce where he became the Director of the Office of Technology Commercialization. He was instrumental in the passage of major laws allowing U.S. industry to perform joint R&D with federal laboratories. Allen’s office oversaw Executive branch implementation of the Bayh-Dole and Federal Technology Transfer Acts and related presidential policy directives. He helped negotiate intellectual property rights provisions for major international science and technology agreements.

Joe became President of the National Technology Transfer Center established by Congress to promote industry/federal laboratory R&D partnerships. In 2008 he founded Allen and Associates a consulting firm specializing in technology management/IP issues. Joe was the lead witness before the South African parliament on their Bayh-Dole law and consulted with the Republic of Kazakhstan to develop its technology transfer laws. In 2013 he co-chaired the White House Lab to Market Summit. The Association of University Technology Managers presented Joe with the Driving Innovation Award “For His Tireless Work and Support as a Champion for the Bayh-Dole Act during the Past 30 Years” and the Bayh-Dole Award, its highest honor. He also writes a monthly column for IP Watchdog on technology management issues. Joe currently leads the Bayh-Dole Coalition, a broad-based organization promoting and protecting that landmark law.