News

Business, Engineering, Science, and Technology Institute (BEST) brings Rutgers intellectual property to market

June 28, 2009

BEST Institute cultivates entrepreneurship by giving Rutgers Business School students hands-on learning experience commercializing innovation, both in theory and practice

The Business, Engineering, Science, and Technology Institute (BEST) has created an environment that cultivates entrepreneurship by accelerating the commercialization of Rutgers’ intellectual property, and promoting educational programs that teach and train Rutgers students in all aspects of entrepreneurship and innovation commercialization, both theory and practice.

The BEST institute builds on a rich Rutgers tradition—the search engine Ask.com, the antibiotic streptomycin used to treat tuberculosis, and the famous Jersey tomato—all are examples of applying Rutgers research excellence to innovation.

BEST epitomizes the Rutgers Business School (RBS) multidisciplinary approach to business education. The institute is a unique collaboration between Rutgers Business School, the Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate and Professional Education, Rutgers Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC), and the Schools of Engineering, Pharmacy and Law. It seeks to bring promising innovations, born of university research, to market by investing in Rutgers intellectual property (IP) that offers commercial promise.

Headed by directors Professors Richard Mammone, Benjamin Melamed, Deborah Silver, Patrick J. Sinko, Ben J. Sopranzetti, and Associate Dean Thomas Gombar, BEST is working with RBS corporate partners to establish funds for investing in Rutgers’ IP. The successful ventures will allow BEST—through education, innovation, commercialization, business start-up, and job creation—to contribute to the economic well-being of Rutgers University and the State of New Jersey.

“What we do is build the science, build the product, and build the business,” said Mammone. “Entrepreneurship is key. It is not enough to just have the idea. We have the expertise to build companies and network to get the capital there.”

To achieve its mission, BEST is introducing a new operational model that integrates educational and business activities. The institute represents another hands-on learning experience for students and faculty who benefit by applying RBS’s new integrated business, science, and technology curriculum to real-world business activities in companies created by BEST.
It is also attracting leading faculty who teach courses about entrepreneurship and conduct research regarding all facets of private enterprise, including intellectual property and financial analysis. Faculty members also serve as consultants, mentors, and board members for start-ups.

“By giving professors and graduate students funding to start businesses based on research findings, BEST helps them obtain patents; create business plans and incubate companies; build and educate management teams; and guide companies to self sufficiency and successful exit,” said Rutgers Business School Dean Michael R. Cooper, PhD. “BEST is emerging as a leader in creating and managing firms grounded in high technology and the life sciences.”

The BEST model
Both students and faculty benefit through real-world application of entrepreneurship.
• Educate students on commercialization of innovation
• Analyze the market opportunity for intellectual property
• Create business plans
• Build, educate and mentor management teams
• Help students and professors commercialize research by forming start-up companies
• Provide seed funding to newly-created companies
• Guide the companies through its stages of maturation and take them all the way to final acquisition or IPO

Daniel Stoll
dstoll@business.rutgers.edu