Department: |
School of Optometry |
Effective Date: |
October 2010 |
Grade: |
USG 10 |
Reports to: |
Professor Christopher Hudson |
General Accountability
A Business Manager / Administrator (part-time @ 14 hours per week) in the School of Optometry accountable to Professor Christopher Hudson for: 1) Attracting research activity with potential commercial application to the Research Program; 2) Reporting to the Board of Directors, private sector, government and institutional research partners, especially with respect to commercialization, intellectual property, financial management and milestones and deliverables of the Research Program; 3) Day-to-day project administration of the financial and human resources, marketing and information transfer of the Research Program; 4) Organization of annual workshops, bi-annual symposiums and a youth outreach program; and 5) Other administrative and, if appropriate academic, functions as required to support the Scientific Director and the Research Program (as broadly described in the Ontario Research Fund, Research Excellence, proposal titled “Retinal Oxygen Saturation, Blood Flow, Vascular Function and High Resolution Morphometric Imaging in the Living Human Eye”).
Nature and Scope
The Business Manager / Administrator position is funded through the Ontario Research Fund, Research Excellence, project titled “Retinal Oxygen Saturation, Blood Flow, Vascular Function and High Resolution Morphometric Imaging in the Living Human Eye” which was awarded to a research group lead by Professor Hudson with individual researchers from the University of Waterloo and the University Health Network, Toronto in January 2010. The project includes two industry partners and two international research partners. This is a new position and is initially intended to be a part-time (40% / 2 days per week) post with expectation that the level of commitment will grow over the next 5 years. The position is contingent on funding.
The Business Manager / Administrator will report to the Scientific Director. The Business Manager / Administrator will:
Formulate and Maintain a Commercialization Management Plan;
- Be responsible for overseeing the commercialization of intellectual property and will call upon the expertise of professionals as needed. On identification of a commercially viable project, the Business Manager / Administrator will formulate a commercialization plan which will provide a framework for the transfer of the technology to the marketplace. All of the above activity will take place in collaboration with the Scientific Director and relevant researchers. Researchers will meet individually with the Business Manager / Administrator and Scientific Director at least yearly to discuss overall research progress and intellectual property development.
- Ensure that any intellectual property identified during project review is properly disclosed to the appropriate technology transfer office (University of Waterloo, UW or University Health Network, UHN) and industry sponsor.
- Collaborate with the relevant researchers, private sector partners and the research institution technology transfer offices of UW and UHN to produce a technology commercialization plan which will identify the potential market, define the initial business and marketing strategy of any intellectual property.
- Through the research institution technology transfer offices of UW and UHN, help to secure additional commercialization funding from programs such as Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) Market Readiness, Natural Sciences Engineering and Research Council (NSERC) Innovation to Industry (I2I) or C4 Proof of Principle.
Maintain Contact with Partners:
- Frequent contact will be maintained with all partners, partly through weekly conference calls (also involving the Scientific Director and / or individual researchers, as appropriate), site visits and at least one up-date meeting with each private partner per year. On completion of the meetings, the relevant researchers and partners in conjunction with the Business Manager / Administrator will review and adjust existing commercialization projects, if appropriate, and formulate new research proposals that will then be forwarded into the Knowledge and Commercialization Plan (KCP) review process to develop a commercialization plan.
Liaise with Industry Liaison Office:
- Contact the research institution technology transfer offices of UW and UHN quarterly or more frequently as required by the technology opportunity status) to discuss in detail intellectual property tracking and actions. The Business Manager / Administrator will collaborate with the relevant researchers, and private sector partners, if appropriate, and technology transfer offices of UW and UHN to produce an intellectual property tracking plan, as well as a disposition of intellectual property operations plan and business plan.
Liaise with Other Commercially Experienced Advisors:
- Contact other advisers as needed, such as those available to the UW technology transfer office via its relationship within C4 and Accelerator for Commercialization Excellence (ACE) or the Centre for Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (CBET).
Establish and Manage Appropriate Accountability and Reporting Mechanisms:
- Reporting will comprise quarterly progress reports, compiled by the Business Manager / Administrator and Scientific Director, which will be used to brief the Board of Directors. These reports will track research progress and will document the potential of each project for knowledge transfer and commercialization.
Establish and Manage Appropriate Project Management Mechanisms:
- Working in consultation with the Scientific Director / Principal Investigator and co-investigators (Co-Is), the Business Manager / Administrator will develop Project Management mechanisms, as broadly outlined below:
- Scope Management: A plan that defines the project scope and the work breakdown structure (i.e. an effort estimate for each sub-project). On-going control of scope of each sub-project will be assessed at monthly intervals. This management plan will ensure that the Research Program, including sub-projects as defined in the Proposal Description will align with the proposal objectives and be successfully completed. The Research Program sub-projects are detailed in the Proposal Description. In addition, the Business Manager / Administrator and researchers will look for opportunities to increase scope of the Research Program when beneficial to the program and resources are available.
- Schedule Management: A plan that defines the project / sub-project schedule in agreement with the relevant researchers. Scheduling progress and necessary adjustments will be verified monthly.
- Cost Management: A plan to ensure the continuous control of budget costs. If there are changes to the project costs (over / under estimated costs), they will be identified as they occur and adjustments made. In addition, quarterly budget reviews will be completed by the Business Manager / Administrator and the Scientific Director.
- Change Management: Changes that might affect the scope, schedule, budget or activities of the Research Program will be monitored by the Business Manager / Administrator in consultation with the Scientific Director, Board of Directors, the Principal Investigator and Co-Investigators. This will require continual monitoring of the dynamic research and development field. Research program course correction will be made, as needed, and implemented across facets of the Research Program as appropriate.
Contribute Towards and Support Research Activities:
- The Business Manager / Administrator will be an intrinsic part of the Research Program and will be expected to directly contribute and support, if appropriately qualified and experienced, to the research activities of the group. This contribution towards research activities will be undertaken in partnership with the Scientific Director.
Statistical Data
(associated with Ontario Research Fund, Research Excellence, project)
Annual Operating Budget |
$2.5 million over 5 years
(approx $500K per year) |
Number of investigators (inc PI) |
9 |
Number of postgraduate students |
23 |
Number of postdoctoral fellows |
5 |
It is anticipated that the above numbers will grow as more activity is developed within the Research Program.
Specific Accountabilities
Key job responsibilities and outcomes of the Business Manager / Administrator include:
1) Attracting research activity with potential commercial application to the Research Program.
2) Reporting to the Board of Directors, private sector, government and institutional research partners, especially with respect to commercialization, intellectual property, financial management and milestones and deliverables of the Research Program.
3) Day-to-day project administration of the financial and human resources, marketing and information transfer of the Research Program.
4) Organization of annual workshops, bi-annual symposiums and a Youth Outreach Program.
5) Other administrative and, if appropriate academic, functions as required to support the Scientific Director and the Research Program, such as writing research funding proposals and research ethics applications.
Working Conditions
The Business Manager / Administrator will be based in the School of Optometry, University of Waterloo. The Business Manager / Administrator will be an intrinsic part of the Research Program and will be expected to contribute, if appropriate, to the research activities of the Group. In this respect, the Business Manager / Administrator will closely interact with graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and study investigators.
There will be occasions when there will be a need to attend meetings in the Toronto Western Hospital, such as meetings with the Board of Directors. Also, occasional visits to the offices of private sector, government and institutional research partners will be required.