Release date: July 30, 2024
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Vladimir Popov is adept at bringing worlds together. As a trained researcher, he transitioned from cancer research to the business world and works to bridge the two as the Chief Innovation Officer at Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research. Vladimir also created a way to bring together federal labs and universities. The Federal Lab Education Accelerator program is a one-of-a-kind initiative partnering MBA students with federal laboratories to work on their technology portfolios. In this episode, we'll look at what drove Vladimir to the complex world of cancer research, his incredible path into technology transfer, and the development of the unique FLEX program.
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In This Episode:
[01:45] Vladimir shares how he went from research to tech transfer. He realized that tech transfer was where the business side and the scientific side merged.
[03:39] He loves seeing the big picture and moving from research to proof of concept to intellectual property to licensing and commercialization of products.
[05:33] How did he get into cancer research? He likes the complexity and the challenge of trying to solve something so nuanced.
[07:06] Frederick National Laboratory is the youngest National Laboratory, established in 1972. The lab is the government-owned and contractor-operated.
[08:46] The lab is fully dedicated to biomedical research.
[09:33] Vladimir explains the tech transfer process at Frederick National Lab.
[11:36] Artificial intelligence is one of the areas they are focusing on.
[14:45] The FLEX Program is the Federal Lab Education Accelerator Program, with the idea to connect federal labs and business students.
[18:38] There's a whole generation of MBA students coming up with the knowledge and familiarity of federal labs.
[19:05] We want to let upcoming entrepreneurs know that labs exist.
[19:38] The FLEX Program piloted for about a year and then expanded. They've had good outcomes and students being offered jobs.
[21:02] They've also had their first company come out of the program, EviroWell.
[24:22] Contact Vladimir if you would like to get involved with the FLEX Program.