Like finding your way through a maze, it can be daunting for businesses to know how to tap into large universities for science and technology skills and solutions. Now, industry has a new way to engage with scientific expertise at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute.

Serving as home to 500 researchers, Biodesign has been stimulating innovation in the Phoenix area for more than 10 years. This has reached a groundswell of scientific expertise and discoveries in health, sustainability and security. During the fiscal year that ended in June, Biodesign researchers filed or received patents on 82 inventions.

Sidney Hecht is leading the new portal for industry engagement for the Biodesign Institute. Photo credit: The Biodesign Institute at ASU

A daylong symposium on Sept. 27 will mark the start of the Biodesign Industrial Liaison program, the new portal for industry engagement. The program offers industry participants access to a searchable database of research abstracts that suggest activities of interest to companies. The information is intended to highlight team capabilities, match company needs with institute resources and forge introductions between scientists and interested companies.

When university expertise and industry know-how come together, good things, such as new jobs, can result,” says Sidney Hecht, chair of the program and director of Biodesign’s Center for BioEnergetics. “Our goal is to spark new partnerships, new inventions and the economic benefits that can result from these synergies.”

The Biodesign Institute at ASU brings life scientists, engineers and computing experts together to spur scientific breakthroughs to global challenges in improving health, protecting lives and sustaining our planet. Teams look to nature’s design to unlock technical barriers and move its research forward.

“Industry can invigorate our research and we can embark on collaborations that will apply the latest scientific solutions we have to offer,” says Raymond DuBois, Biodesign Institute executive director.