Nicholas Hammond will be the new leader of the Innovation and Commercialization Office beginning Nov. 13. Hammond’s official title will be the associate vice president for innovation and commercialization at IU.
Hammond earned a Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi and a bachelor’s degree from Butler University according to an IU press release. He will help grow research and creativity, innovation, industry engagement and commercialization, all of which will help IU move closer to the goal of the IU 2030 strategic plan, according to the press release.
The IU 2030 strategic plan was launched in April 2023 and details goals and plans for all IU campuses going forward. Hammond role in the plan will fall under the transformative research section of the plan.
The Innovation and Commercialization Office works with IU students and faculty and the entrepreneurial community in Indiana to take IU innovations to market.
Over the past 15 years, IU has produced 1,340 issued patents, the right to an invention generating 559 licenses, 71 startups, (a company in the early stages of its development) and $113 million in revenue according to the Innovation and Commercialization Office website.
Hammond said the role is an amazing opportunity to facilitate the transition of discoveries at IU to the market.
“There is a lot of great work going on at IU and to be able to be a part of building towards the future and translate these things is exciting to me,” Hammond said.
Hammond said the first thing he wants to do is get to know the environment and better understand the resources IU has for technology commercialization.
“There are so many things we can do but it is kind of a first things first type of thing,” Hammond said. “I have plenty of ideas but really understanding where to start first will be the first thing on the agenda.”
Russell Mumper, vice president for research at IU, said there was a national search for the position conducted by a committee which included IU faculty and administrators. The committee narrowed the applicants down to ten people for a first round of interviews, then recommended three finalists for Mumper to choose between. There were 40 to 45 applicants total, he said.
“It's a big job;, it's responsible for innovation and commercialization across all IU campuses,” Mumper said. “I was not expecting a hundred people to apply because it’s a university setting and a high-level administrator, there is not hundreds of those in the country.”
Mumper said Hammond will be leading an office of 17, soon to be 25employees, in the next year. The office submits patent applications created by faculty and students to the United States Patent and Trademark Office on behalf of the university.
“Something new the office will be doing when Nick starts is going to lead university-wide initiatives to get more research and development partners in the industry,” Mumper said. “He has managed invention disclosures, patent submissions, awarded patents and he has started his own companies, so he already has experience doing all of this.”
