Mission

To enhance the Colorado bioscience business community through creation and support of new biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies and development of established companies by catalyzing technology transfer and sponsored research in partnership with the Colorado research institutions.

History

The Colorado BioScience Association Committee on Technology Transfer and Sponsored Research was formed in 2003 in response to a request from the University of Colorado Technology Transfer Office and recommendations contained in the March 2003 Action Plan from the Colorado Office of Innovation and Technology. Both emphasized the need and desirability to further leverage resources from Colorado research institutions to enhance the formation and development of bioscience companies within the state.

This committee is comprised of thought leaders from Colorado biotechnology and medical device companies, Colorado research institutions, and service providers that are knowledgeable about issues relating to technology transfer, sponsored research and university/industry relations.

After extensive discussion within the committee, it was agreed that an appropriate approach to achieving the mission would be to first identify major points of agreement amongst the bioscience industry representatives of the CBSA, and then, using these points as a reference basis, initiate a formal dialog between industry members of CBSA and the individual research institutions. The intent of the latter phase of this approach is to identify specific issues and areas of collaboration that will enhance the technology transfer process within Colorado, facilitate the initiation and successful completion of industry sponsored research activities that contribute to product and industry development and improve all aspects of industry/research institution interactions that will contribute to these goals. The deliverables of this phase of the effort will be the definition and implementation of specific action plans.

Identification of the major points of agreement amongst the industry members of the CBSA was completed in the summer of 2004, followed by the initiation of dialogs with selected Colorado research institutions by means of institution specific subcommittees comprised of CBSA industry representatives and key members of the technology transfer and sponsored research organizations within those institutions. The definition of action plans and initial implementation activities are currently ongoing.

Core Lab Capabilities Database

To facilitate technology transfer and sponsored research within the state of Colorado, CBSA is developing a list of resources available to bioscience industry members at research institutions throughout the state. While ultimately intended to be as comprehensive as possible, this listing will initially focus on selected areas and expand with time. The specific resources accessible through this site have been vetted by joint CBSA/institution committees as being capable and interested in working with the bioscience industry.

Agreement Templates

To facilitate the execution of research and development agreements between bioscience companies and Colorado State University, the joint CSU/CBSA Technology Transfer and Sponsored Research Subcommittee has initiated a process to create templates for commonly utilized agreements. In this process, standard contracts are reviewed and modified by experienced university and bioscience industry representatives to incorporate best practice terms that have proven reasonable and workable in the past. Once approved by the subcommittee, as well as appropriate institutional representatives, template documents will be posted on both the CBSA and CSU web sites. Moreover, for those cases in which bioscience companies are willing to use unaltered templates, CSU has committed that such agreements will receive expedited review and approval. It is anticipated that this activity will be expanded to other document types and other institutions in the future. The following templates have been approved to date:

Ü CSU Non-Disclosure Agreement
Ü CSU Materials Transfer Agreement
Ü CSU Services Agreement