Corridor briefs
Honoring
the World’s Greatest Inventors
The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) has
Eight Corridor trailblazers in optics and photonics, sustainable energy, life
experienced tremendous growth since it was
sciences and medical technologies were among 168 leaders of invention
founded at the University of South Florida (USF)
and innovation recognized at the annual conference and named to NAI
in 2010 to recognize scientific discovery at
fellow status. These world-class researchers are the University of Central
universities and scientific institutions. In just six
Florida’s Guifang Li and Issa Batarseh, the University of South Florida’s
years, the organization has grown to include
Selim A. Chacour, David M. Eddy and Dean F. Martin, the University of Florida’s
more than 3,000 inventors from more than 200
Ann Progulske-Fox and Roy Curtiss III, and H. Lee Moffitt Cancer & Research
top research institutions around the world. Most
Institute’s G. Douglas Letson. The Corridor is now home to 38 out of 582 NAI
recently, NAI welcomed Massachusetts General
fellows who have earned this high professional honor for having a great
Hospital, the largest hospital-based research
impact on society through research.
enterprise in the U.S., James Madison University,
Wayne State University and King Abdullah
The NAI Fellows Induction Ceremony also offered an opportunity for NAI
University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in
and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to solidify its important
Saudi Arabia.
partnership and pave the way toward future collaborations on programs
related to intellectual property. Dr. Paul R. Sanberg, NAI president and USF
In April, leadership from more than 150 prestigious
vice president for research, innovation and economic development, and
research institutions convened in Washington,
Russell Slifer, deputy under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and
D.C., for the fifth NAI Annual Conference,
deputy director of the USPTO, signed a Memorandum of Agreement outlining
‘Building on Foundations of Innovation.’
how the organizations will work together to champion innovation.
Located just two miles from the Lincoln
Memorial – a tribute to the only president to
hold an issued U.S. patent – conference
presentations and programming celebrated
America’s spirit of ingenuity, our nation’s history
of change and shared ideas for future
innovation.
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