Bioengineering Explodes!

Janie Fouke

Case Western Reserve University

June 22, 1998

APL, Baltimore

The Goal

Maximize Value Minimize Effort

Inventing the future is easier that predicting the future!

Burn all the books . . . Keep all the people. How much value

have you lost?

Policy Alternatives

Pure Research (Understanding) Strategic Research Tactical Research (Use)

Pasteur’s Quadrant

High Understanding/High Use Contrast with Bohr (High understanding) Contrast with Edison (High Use)

Question the Linear Model

The pathway from basic research to applied research is neither monotonic nor linear!

Paradox of Appropriability

At what scale does the funder of basic research reap the benefit?

US funds research Japan acquires research

Strong links to Industry

Hopkins: former reputation was for sending all of the bioengineering graduates to medical/graduate school

Currently, a third go to industry

Role of the economy

Jobs are so available, lucrative, and exciting that it is difficult to entice US students to attend graduate school

New teams

Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania with the Wharton School of Business

Medical College of Wisconsin and Marquette University School of Business and Department of Bioengineering

Georgia Technological University

Georgia Tech

Bioengineering department teamed with Business School to design graduate curriculum based around regulation/compliance/FDA-like issues

Entrepreneurial students will be more prepared for the demands of the market-place

Marquette/Medical College of Wisconsin

Graduate program to provide executive business skills and also knowledge about clinical equipment and procedures

Graduates can advise hospitals, HMO’s, third party payers about the short and long term consequences of their decisions

U Penn and Wharton

Strong entrepreneurial aspect Designed to help people be more successful as they launch their

start-up company

Graduate Schools and Industry

Keck Graduate Institute ($200M to start Engineering for Living Systems program

University of California-Los Angeles ($100M from Al Mann for bioengineering)

University of Southern California (another $100M from Al Mann for bioengineering)

Drivers

Unifying theme is market need Drivers are commercial Not the typical professor-cloning graduate schools

Curriculum developments

Whitaker Foundation National Science Foundation ERC program Engineering schools requiring biology

Engineering for Living Systems

Who works on bio-based systems? Medical (largest group) Clinical (instrumentation types) Biotech (cell metabolism/mechanics) Biological (agricultural industry) Pharmaceutics (drug design/bioinformatics) Others?

Pedagogical Topics

Bio-Manufacturing: how biological elements produce something of commercial value; how they integrate multiple systems

Bio-intelligence: sensing and control Global economics: no more parochial attitudes . . . Agile thinking: the design parameter changes as soon as you

satisfy them