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Hi Ben, thanks so much for being with us
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today. Thanks so much for having me.
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Now, first of all, we would like you to
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talk a little bit about um what is the
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mission of Techneon technology transfer
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and can you give us kind of a brief
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overview of your operations? Well, the
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technon technology transfer is the tech
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transfer company of the technon. So our
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role is to make sure that innovations
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that are developed within the technon
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finds their way to the
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marketplace. Um in today's day and age
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you know it's very imperative it's very
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important for university not just to do
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research not just to do teaching but to
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do technology transfer. And uh at the
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technon we have come to realize that
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universities that will not be able to
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impact the marketplace by creating jobs
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by engaging the community by building
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companies to some extent will become
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irrelevant.
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And how does the technology transfer
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process at techneon work? I mean how do
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you go about identifying research that
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has commercial potential and then what
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are the stages stages of actually
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turning that into a product or a service
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that people can buy on the market? Oh,
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that's a very good question. The the
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main mission, I think the number one
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mission is to increase the level of
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openness of the institution to
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commercialization because you have to
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understand and the at the end of the day
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people come for a university like the
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technon which is you know considered the
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uh the MIT of of Israel certainly if not
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the Middle East um they come to do you
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know cutting edge research and the techn
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is considered among the top 10
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university in the world. So first of all
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you you need to increase the level of
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openness of the researchers to
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commercialization. So this is number
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one. Then you know the idea is how you
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bring the innovations that you produce
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to the marketplace. How do you increase
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the awareness and how do you create the
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opportunities for this innovations to
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find their way to the marketplace? Now I
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mean when you have several good ideas
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that could lead to commercial products
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what process do you use? I mean to kind
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of figure out I mean of all the
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wonderful research going on at the
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university. I mean what kind of process
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do you go through to figure out you know
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what are the things that are maybe going
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to be most likely to sort of have that
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direct path to commercial research or
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even maybe ones that are a little more
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of a twisting path like what is sort of
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the right projects to focus on?
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Well you know you can tell a lot about
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the nation by looking at your culture
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heroes. You know let's let's take a
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quick look at the United States. Who are
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the culture heroes? Of course you have
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Bill Gates and you know Steve Jobs and
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and and you also have the Hollywood
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players and the politicians in Israel.
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For many years the culture heroes so to
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speak were the generals you know people
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like Mosha Dian and Aric Shaon and
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others. But in recent years you know
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people like Gil Shvved people like Yosi
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Valdi you know the pioneers in the ITC
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industry certainly became the new
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culture heroes of of Israel. Now many of
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them are graduates of the technon. You
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may be surprised to learn that out of
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the 120 Israeli or Israeli related
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companies on NASDAQ 70% of the CEOs or
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CEOs of these companies are graduates of
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the Technon. So our main focus in order
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to commercialize the technologies is
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finding the right person to take that
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technology to the market. So we have
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developed a very elaborate you know what
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we call EIR entrepreneur in residence
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program whereby we try to marry a very
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strong entrepreneur with a very strong
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technology and what we do is we use this
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entrepreneurs as agents of the
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marketplace within the campus of the
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technon
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and know what have you found I mean with
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having the entrepreneurs working
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together with the researchers what do
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you find that the two are able to learn
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from each other as they're kind of in
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this partnership You know this is a very
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interesting dialogue because you know at
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academic settings many of the
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innovations are technologies looking for
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a problem but you if you have the
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qualified you know the trained eye of a
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very strong entrepreneur out of this
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dialogue you know some most some of the
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most brilliant things can can come out
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and we have witnessed time and again and
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now what do you mean do you find that
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also the researchers I mean the
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entrepreneurs are learning some things
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from the researchers as always.
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Absolutely. And now one of the best
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known examples of tech transfer um has
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been at Techneon has been the
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development of a treatment for
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Parkinson's disease called Azle. I hope
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I'm pronouncing that right. Correct. And
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that was developed based on research at
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Techneon by again hoping I'm pronouncing
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it right um Musa Udim and John Finnberg
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in collaboration with Tiva
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Pharmaceuticals. Could you take us
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through the process of how that came
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about?
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Well, you know, first maybe we should
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step take a, you know, a quick step uh
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step back. In Israel, we have, you know,
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uh maybe four leading universities. The
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Technneon certainly uh one of them, the
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Hebrew University, and the Vitzman
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Institute. All three leading
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universities in Israel, Technneon,
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Hebrew Universities, and the Vitman have
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at least one FDA approved drug in the
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market. And the technon is you know
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belongs to this quite distinguished club
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of universities that were able to
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develop a drug and take it to uh to the
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marketplace. Now you have to remember
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this is the process started about 20 25
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years ago when the funding from sources
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like the NIH and others were quite quite
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more available.
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So the research was done at the
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laboratory of professor Musay Yudim and
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John Fineberg and later on it was
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licensed in a pure straightforward
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licensing deal which as opposed to deals
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that are done today was about four pages
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deal and up until today uh you know it
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serves us very well. Now the and this is
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again a good demonstration of how long
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it takes to develop the drug that you
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know is developed at the benchtop in a
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university setting until it reaches the
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marketplace. And people don't always
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realize that this is a very long and
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tedious process. So when you ask me why
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isn't it happening for example through
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VCs and why was it directly licensed to
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a to a commercial company then I would
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tell you that this is the right process
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for for drug developments because
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between a university and the venture
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capital war there's some sort of a
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synchronization problem because we
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operate in a window that could easily be
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10 11 12 years long and as we see here
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even 20 while the VCs operate in a much
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shorter window of five, six, seven
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years. And this gap has to be filled and
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the question is who will fill the gap?
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And if it's not the government, it has
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to be industry. Otherwise, all this
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investment will be lost. Not the
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government, it has to be industry.
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Otherwise, all this investment will be
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lost.
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Now, could you give us some other more
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examples of research at Techneon that
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was successfully turned into commercial
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products and maybe talk a little more
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about Absolutely. trying to figure out,
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you just mentioned sort of go through
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commercial like a commercial company
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versus VCs like some of the different
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paths maybe you've taken to try and get
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the get the product to market.
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Absolutely. We are, you know, uh
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although we are predominantly an
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engineering school, the Techneon has
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made some major breakthroughs in in
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medical devices. So in all the area of
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robotic aided surgery the the technon
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has won considerable fame. Some of the
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companies that we uh boast in are
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companies like mazo which is in the
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business of spine fusion. About 3% of
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the procedures that are done today when
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you do spine fusion the doctor drills
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right into the spine cord. What mazor
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allows using a robotic a surgery is
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first to see and then only to do the
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drill. This is a company by professor
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mushes shwam. Another company that we
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started with professor masham is a
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company called kurindus. Corindus is in
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the business of remote catheterization.
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I have a brother, he's an interventional
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cardiologist in Mount Sinai in New York
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and he walks a little bit bent and this
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is because of the heavy lead suits that
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they need to wear while operating. So
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imagine for a minute that you sit in a
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remote location, it can be the adjacent
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room or it can be the the another
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continent and using joystick you guide
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the guide wider the guide wire in the
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body of the patients and do the
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procedure remotely. And this is what is
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done by a company like Corindas.
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Now Technon companies have raised just
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in year 2012 close to $60 million. In
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year 2011 it was again close to $50
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million. In the last three years they
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have raised close to $150 million which
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in Israeli terms is quite significant.
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And this is a demonstration of the
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validation of the marketplace of
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industry in the innovation that is
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coming out of the technia. Now often I
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mean when you're talking about
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innovation or really anything I mean you
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often have for every one success there's
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probably you know multiple failure
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failures you can talk about and
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sometimes you learn more from those than
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maybe some of the successes. So could
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you talk about maybe what are some of
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what have been some of's most
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instructive failures and what you've
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learned from them?
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Well, at the end of the day, what we
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have learned that the level of risk at
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which we are talking is extremely
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extremely high. But the because the
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level of unknowns on the technology
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level on the marketing level is
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extremely high. And this is why and this
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is what something that we have learned
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that in order to successful successfully
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launch u an enterprise a company you
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need a very very strong entrepreneur.
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We see starting a business as sending a
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spacecraft to space. The first 10
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minutes that you detach yourself from
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gravity consume 80 90% of the energy of
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the gasoline in in in this huge
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spacecraft and you have to have the
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person the right person to inject the
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energy into the process and this person
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is the entrepreneur. Now many think that
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because it's a university and a you know
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a high-risisk technology you can so to
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speak do well with a less experienced
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entrepreneur but it's right on the
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contrary to commercialize a technology
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from a university you need a very strong
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entrepreneur that can you know relay to
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the marketplace raise the necessary
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capital but at the same time talk at the
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eye level with a professor. So if you
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ask me what is the number one lesson is
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have a very very strong team that knows
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how to work together.
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Now how would you say um Tiffanyon's
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technology transfer operation and the
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way that you go about doing this
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compares with other Israeli institutions
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such as the Weisman Institute and then
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also US institutions like MIT or
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Stanford or even here at Wharton? Well,
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this is again an an excellent question
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because you know this is part of the
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metrics that we use to measure ourself
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to ask ourselves are we successful. So
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first of all let's you know compare
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apples to apples you know take the
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research budget the research budget of
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of the technon is something like $70
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million. The research budget of a
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university like MIT including Lincoln
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lab is $1.4 billion. The research budget
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of Stanford is $700 million. So if you
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just use the income metrics compared to
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the investment that you make in
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research, the Techon is doing extremely
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well because we generate today close to
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$25 million directly from
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commercialization. So this is either
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royalties, income, equity or dividend.
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Now if you compare it to what MIT is
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doing and other leading university, we
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are doing extremely well.
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But the point is that as a university
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this is not the only metrics that you
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should use. I mean for us the income
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certainly is critical but you need to
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see the economic development that is
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done around the technon in a city like
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Kyifa. How many companies have
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established their presence surrounding
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the technon in order to tap into the
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human capital and the resources
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available at the technon. So companies
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like Google, uh, Phillips, Microsoft all
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have and are operating significant R&D
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centers at a 10-minut drive from the
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technon campus. So it's not just how
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much, but it's more like what kind of
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domino effect does each one create like
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this goes to this and this. You are
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absolutely right, Rachel. Again, the
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issue is not to maximize every deal that
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we do. So we do not try to extract the
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most economic value from the deals that
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we do but we try to do as many deals as
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possible. In a way we view technology
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transfer as a lottery business because
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honestly you never really know which
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technology will actually make the
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difference be the par the paradigm
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shift. So you try to buy as many tickets
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as possible. And if you ask me what is
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the philosophy that makes T3 my unit
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unique is that we have adopted a
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philosophy that if technon is a huge
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harbor we are the tagbo. Our role is to
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make sure that the research done at the
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technon will find its way out of the
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port of the technon as quickly and as
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effectively as possible. We are not a
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gateway and this is something that is
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changing and I think it's very important
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for the industry to understand. Now
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could you talk a little bit about I mean
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what are some of your top priorities for
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2013 and then also kind of looking
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beyond that a little bit. Well we are
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putting a huge emphasis now on stem
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cells. Just a couple of months ago, we
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have started a company called Axelta
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within Amit, which is an internal
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incubator that we started with the help
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of uh Alfred Man, you know, uh very
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prominent and successful businessmen
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here in the United States that have
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started many companies and Excela is
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exactly in the business of drug
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development, drug screening. We all
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realize now that the drug development
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and the drug screening is broken. So
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what Axela is doing at the end of the
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day it will be to help do clinical
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trials on a chip as opposed you know to
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the way clinical trials are done today.
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It's a stem cells company developing the
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pick and shovels of the industry of the
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stem cells
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uh stem cells research and stem cells uh
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development. Ben, thank you so much for
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talking with us today. My pleasure.
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Thank you, Rachel.
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