Innovation Liaisons aim to make commercialization less intimidating for WSU faculty

The path from a lab discovery to a commercialized product is often far less byzantine than faculty expect.

The hardest part, said Lois James, a Washington State University associate professor of nursing and director of the Sleep and Performance Research Center, is not patents or paperwork. It is faculty realizing their work could bring value to the world beyond academia, and reaching out for help before uncertainty or intimidation gets in the way.

"People fear the idea of it, because they think, 'Well, I don't know anything about patents, I don't know anything about trademarks,'" James said. "And it's like, well, you don't have to. That's the whole point."

James is one of eight faculty members across six colleges and four WSU campuses serving as Innovation Liaisons, a new peer mentoring effort, run out of the Office of Research, that gives scientists a sounding board for early-stage ideas and a clearer path to helpful university resources. The goal is to normalize those first conversations, whether an idea ultimately becomes a licensed technology, a startup, a curriculum, or another practical tool.

"Our Innovation Liaisons help faculty see that these possibilities are within reach," said Kim Christen, WSU vice president for research. "By lowering barriers and normalizing early conversations, we enable ideas to move outward into the world where they can create real public impact. That is not just an opportunity for WSU - it is fundamental to our mission."

By lowering barriers and normalizing early conversations, we enable ideas to move outward into the world where they can create real public impact.

The program is coordinated by Karin Biggs, a licensing associate in WSU's Innovation and Entrepreneurship group within the Office of Research. Biggs said the liaisons help faculty recognize potential sooner, map out next steps, and avoid common pitfalls such as publicly sharing key details before protections are in place. They also offer guidance on building applied research teams, identifying partners, and locking down early-stage funding.

"People can find our office intimidating sometimes," Biggs said. "And oftentimes for faculty, talking to a peer is a little bit less intimidating."

Faculty can contact a liaison directly or email Biggs to be connected with someone who fits their questions. The Innovation and Entrepreneurship group also plans a series of lunch-and-learn events this spring where liaisons will share their own experiences and answer questions from colleagues.

For James, commercialization grew out of more than a decade of research examining how stress, fatigue, and bias shape split-second decisions.

In 2017, she applied for a commercialization gap fund to turn that research into what became Counter Bias Training Simulation, a program that helps police officers and other professionals recognize and counter cognitive bias. Securing that initial funding was the most intense part, she said, because it forced her to sharpen the pitch and define what made the idea distinct. Once the project was underway, the process itself proved manageable.

"I don't have to become a commercialization expert," James said. "That's why the university has people who do this every day. My job is to bring forward the idea. Their job is to help navigate the rest."

Another liaison, Clifford Berkman, a WSU professor of chemistry and founder of Cancer Targeted Technology, said those early conversations can also help researchers recognize the broader potential of work that still feels like basic science.

"An invention may have applications the inventor hasn't yet imagined, and bringing those ideas forward is part of WSU's land-grant mission," Berkman said. "If a technology isn't commercialized, it will never reach the market and it will never help anyone. If we believe our research can benefit society, then we have a responsibility to think about how it gets there."

That responsibility, Christen says, extends beyond any single pathway or outcome.

"As a land grant institution, WSU has a responsibility to ensure that the discoveries made in our labs reach the people and communities we are here to serve," she said. "Sometimes that means a patent and a licensed technology; other times it's a startup, a new curriculum, a tool for industry partners, or a community focused solution that improves everyday lives."

In addition to James and Berkman, the Innovation Liaisons are Shulin Chen (Biological Systems Engineering), Matthew Whiting (Horticulture), Avishek Chanda (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Changki Mo (Mechanical and Materials Engineering), Kimberly McKiernan (Pharmacotherapy), and Ryan Driskell (School of Molecular Biosciences).