Bayh-Dole Coalition Releases 2024 "Faces of American Innovation" Report, Spotlights People Behind Groundbreaking Inventions

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Bayh-Dole Coalition released its 2024 "Faces of American Innovation" report. This second-annual report highlights five inspirational people whose work to transform early-stage discoveries into commercial products improved the lives of millions.

"For nearly five decades, the Bayh-Dole Act has catalyzed American innovation and improved the quality of life for people here and around the world while making the United States the global innovation powerhouse," said Joseph P. Allen, executive director of the Bayh-Dole Coalition. "This year, we are proud to honor a new class of innovators who seized the opportunity established by the Bayh-Dole Act and are changing the world."

The 2024 Faces of American Innovation report profiles the following innovators:

• Dr. Shafiqul Chowdhury, a professor at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine and senior member of the National Academy of Inventors, developed a vaccine for bovine respiratory disease to reinforce food supplies and prevent virus mutations that could affect humans.
• Dr. Rachel Dorin, founder and CEO of TeraPore Technologies, developed the Intelligent Membrane platform to filter impurities out of drugs, making them safe for patients to ingest.
• Dr. Ashok Gadgil, a professor at UC Berkeley and researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, invented UV Waterworks, which uses ultraviolet light to purify water on-site in communities lacking potable supplies.
• Dr. Hong Hua, a professor at the University of Arizona, developed the eSight -- a pair of electronic glasses that help the legally blind see.
• Katharine Ku, a former executive director at Stanford University Office of Technology Licensing, pioneered a licensing program that set a national standard and facilitated the industrial application of historic inventions like recombinant DNA and the Google search algorithm.

"Not only did the Bayh-Dole Act reinvigorate America's R&D and technology licensing systems, paving the way for these five innovators, it's also a rare example of successful bipartisanship in Washington," said Brian O'Shaughnessy, board chair of the Bayh-Dole Coalition. "Strong intellectual property rights should be a priority for folks across the political spectrum. Unfortunately, there are those in Washington who would disrupt this well-oiled machine, jeopardizing future groundbreaking discoveries like these made possible by this law."

On Wednesday, September 18, the five innovators profiled in the report will be honored at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., where they will be presented with the Bayh-Dole Coalition American Innovator Award. On Thursday, September 19, the awardees will be joined by Katherine Bayh, wife of the late Senator Birch Bayh (D-IN), and several other speakers for a briefing on Capitol Hill to discuss the new report and the state of American innovation.

To access this year's Faces of American Innovation report and learn more about the award recipients and their pioneering work, please visit: https://bayhdolecoalition.org/FOAI2024.

To schedule interviews with any of the awardees and Bayh-Dole Coalition Executive Director Joseph P. Allen, please contact Elaina Gonzalez at [email protected].

About the Bayh-Dole Coalition: The Bayh-Dole Coalition is a diverse group of innovation-oriented organizations and individuals committed to celebrating and protecting the Bayh-Dole Act, as well as informing policymakers and the public of its many benefits.

Press contact
Elaina Gonzalez
[email protected]
202-474-4666

SOURCE Bayh-Dole Coalition