Lisa is happy to welcome Michael Carriere to the show today. Michael is an Assistant Director at the University of California Davis Innovation Access in Davis, California. Michael graduated from UC Davis and has a Ph.D. in Plant Biology. After three years at a breeding company in the private sector, he returned to UC Davis to manage its highly competitive strawberry licensing program. For over 20 years in this position, he has served as the University’s liaison at the public-private interface and has gained extensive experience in plant IP management and litigation.
Michael discusses how his office functions within the UC System, the separations between campuses in the UC System, and how his office is structured around licensing legal, business, and startup support. Michael also speaks about some programs UC Davis has around plant breeding.
Listen as Michael shares breeding their classic Mediterranean crops and why as of right now, olives are not on the list. He speaks about how they decide which plant varieties to protect and why they haven’t engaged in the licensing of germplasm and focus mainly on finished varieties.
Michael talks about how many active license agreements they had last year in the US and worldwide, and the three top-earning plant innovations in the last year. Listen as Michael discusses the role corporate partners play at UC Davis, and his work at CIOPORA. Michael also speaks about what he would wish for his office if a genie granted him three wishes.
In This Episode:
- [02:09] Welcome to the show, Michael!
- [02:27] Michael shares his background, his journey to tech transfer, and how he ended up at UC Davis.
- [05:22] Michael speaks about his family’s farm and the defunct plan for him to return.
- [06:36] Listen as Michael discusses how his office functions within the UC system.
- [08:29] Michael explains the level of separations between campuses in the UC system.
- [11:35] Michael shares how his office is structured around licensing, legal, and business.
- [13:24] He speaks about how the focus has been to move more aggressively into startup support over the last few years.
- [15:57] Listen as Michael speaks about some programs UC Davis has in plant breeding.
- [19:11] Michael discusses breeding their classic Mediterranean crops they have at UC Davis.
- [21:01] Why were olives not on the list of Mediterranean crops?
- [22:27] Michael speaks about how they decide which plant varieties to protect.
- [25:09] Michael shares why they haven’t engaged in licensing germplasm and focused mostly on finished varieties.
- [26:23] He talks about PBR rights they have in over 18 countries worldwide.
- [28:29] Listen as Michael shares about litigation around their strawberry varieties and the outcome.
- [32:10] How many plant varieties are disclosed to your office every year?
- [34:18] Michael believes they have over 500 active license agreements and close to that in worldwide IP filings.
- [35:01] Michael shares the top three plant inventions in the last year at UC Davis.
- [36:50] What role do corporate partners play in technology transfer at UC Davis?
- [38:53] Michael talks about what he would have done differently when he first started out using what he knows now.
- [40:53] Michael discusses the organizations like AUTM that he has been involved in.
- [41:45] He is on the Board of Directors of CIOPORA, and he shares what CIOPORA is about and how it has helped him during his career.
- [44:01] For Michael, working with CIOPORA is an opportunity to be connected to decision-makers worldwide.
- [46:53] Michael speaks about being an instructor at UC Davis PIPRA/Law School licensing academy.
- [49:45] If you could have three wishes granted for your office, what would those be?
- [53:55] Thank you so much for being on the show!
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