Hello and welcome to a very special episode of Tech Transfer IP. Today I am pleased to speak with George Chellapa and Meagan Pitcher, the Co-chairs of AUTM’s Better World Project. However, before we talk about the details of the Better World Project, let me tell you a little about my guests George and Meagan.George is an Invention Manager at Innovation and New Ventures at Northwestern University. George works with faculty to protect their intellectual property and bring technologies to market. He is also involved in negotiating agreements between Northwestern and commercial partners and helps faculty with start-up initiatives. Meagan is a Licensing Associate at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) Ventures. In her role, Meagan handles technology evaluation and triage, patent prosecution management, commercialization plan development, negotiation of complex technology licenses, post-deal compliance, and much more.George shares about the Better World Project, what it is, and when it was started. He also names the people on the committee and how big the committee is. Meagan talks about the Better World Project Award, who can apply, and when you need to apply if you want to be considered. They also discuss how many submissions they get a year for the award, and how they are judged and that the score is based on three criteria, relevance, impact, and collaboration.Meagan talks about the three finalists this year; University of Virginia - Innovation: Artificial Pancreas, University of Western Ontario - Innovation: Azedra, and the ultimate winner is Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile for Innovation of the ThyroidPrint. Meagan speaks about the interesting Tech Transfer story side of this invention. George explains the innovations of the other two finalists.Listen as George and Meagan share some of the other amazing inventions featured in the Better World Collection, the inventions around COVID-19, the Honeycrisp apple, and even the fact that GOOGLE is a university-derived innovation. They both talk about their wishes for the Better World Project, which include more video content, more submissions worldwide, and more content on the videos submitted that show more about the people involved with the inventions. In This Episode:[02:05] Welcome to the show, George and Meagan![02:30] George shares about AUTM’s Better World Project and when it was started.[04:14] George discusses the people who work on the committee surrounding the Better World Project who they are and how big it is.[06:27] Meagan talks about the Better World Project Award and what it is.[07:45] When can you apply for the Better World Project Award? Who can apply?[09:12] Meagan speaks about how many submissions they get a year for the award.[09:47] Meagan talks about how the judging occurs and the criteria for the award, relevance, impact, and collaboration.[11:40] George says the prize will be awarded at the 2022 AUTM Annual Meeting.[13:05] Meagan talks about the three finalists this year and who the winner this year was.[15:03] George discusses the other two finalists this year and their innovations.[18:33] Go to AUTM’s website under the Better World Project if you would like more information about this project.[19:24] Meagan discusses some of the other important technologies whose stories are included in the Better World Project, starting with the ones that pertain to COVID-19.[22:03] George speaks about a few more innovations they have heard of in the last year around COVID.[24:11] GOOGLE is a university-derived innovation, and its story is included in the Better World Collection.[27:06] George talks about the development of the Honeycrisp apple, one of the top apples grown in the United States.[29:14] Meagan says that she wishes for the Better World Project to have more video content and more submissions from all over the world.[31:20] George adds he wishes to have more videos on the submissions, talking to the people affected by the inventions.[32:31] Thank you so much for being here today! Find GeorgeEmail Find MeaganEmail

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