UW System patent management organization hires general manager

The WiSys Technology Foundation, Inc., the patenting and licensing organization for the University of Wisconsin System, has hired a full-time general manager to take the foundation to the next level of success.

Maliyakal John assumed the role of WiSys general manager on Oct. 1. He comes to the position from WiSys’ parent organization, the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), where he has worked for three-and-a-half years as an intellectual property manager in the life sciences.

WiSys’ former general manager, Elizabeth Donley, will continue to provide guidance to the foundation as its managing director, with Maliyakal handling the day-to-day operations.

“With the tremendous growth we’ve experienced, especially during the past year, we knew it was time to have a full-time person at the helm of WiSys,” says Donley, who also serves as WARF’s general counsel. “Maliyakal is the perfect person for the job. Not only is he extremely capable and experienced, but he has also already been heavily involved with WiSys’ activities across the state.”

WiSys was founded in 2000 as a non-profit subsidiary of WARF, which manages intellectual property for the UW. WiSys serves the 25 other UW System campuses by protecting the intellectual property of System researchers, licensing the inventions to industry, and returning the proceeds to the campuses to support research and educational programs.

During his years as an intellectual property manager for both WARF and WiSys, Maliyakal has initiated several programs aimed at enhancing the value and licensing potential of inventions created by UW System researchers.

“My goal has been to help WiSys attain the strongest possible licensing position, so we can bring the maximum licensing revenue back to the campuses,” he says.

For example, Maliyakal has assisted with ongoing collaborative discussions between faculty at campuses such as UW-La Crosse and scientists at UW–Madison. These partnerships give UW System researchers access to resources and equipment not available on their own campuses, but which are needed to more fully develop their technologies.

Maliyakal also launched the WiSys “inventor mining” program – a systematic effort to identify UW System faculty and staff who are doing research that holds commercial promise. Since it began one year ago, the project has resulted in several new invention disclosures. More importantly, says Maliyakal, it has helped him better understand the breadth and depth of research being conducted at the state’s universities.

“I see a lot of potential on the campuses and a lot of opportunity for WiSys,” he says. “There is the intellectual property potential and the economic development potential. There is the opportunity to educate faculty about patenting and technology transfer. There are possibilities for start-up companies.

“I want WiSys to become the critical player in the translation of technological innovations created at our state’s universities into economic opportunities for those schools’ communities,” he adds.

Maliyakal is a native of India, where he earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Poona University. Prior to coming to WARF, he worked for the Madison biotechnology company Agracetus, first in research and development, and then in technology transfer and business development. At WARF, Maliyakal has evaluated and managed intellectual property in a wide range of areas, including drug discovery, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, genomics and the plant sciences. He is also a registered patent agent.

One of Maliyakal’s first tasks as general manager will be to continue WiSys’ efforts to secure state funding under Act 255 for four regional economic development centers. A partnership among WiSys, the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center and the state’s technical colleges, the centers, if funded, will provide resources to new and existing businesses across the state. WiSys’ role at these centers would be to help companies access UW System technology and faculty expertise, says Maliyakal.

But the most important goal Maliyakal has set for WiSys in the short term is to achieve more licensing success.

“WiSys has several issued patents and many more patents pending,” he says. “Now, we need to show that we can license this technology to bring revenue to the campuses and create economic opportunities.”