UNeMed Launches Tech Transfer Podcast

UNeMed launched today its pilot episode of a planned podcast series, “Innovation Overground,” which will publish new episodes on Mondays.

The series was created to help promote academic innovation and the technology transfer and commercialization efforts at the University of Nebraska. The podcast intends to examine what it takes to advance academic inventions and discoveries beyond the research bench and into people’s lives as “actual things on a shelf.”

“We really want to tell the untold stories of innovation,” said Joe Runge, one of the podcasts’ three co-hosts and UNeMed’s Business Development Manager. “We see these stories every day, and they’re a really interesting and fun way to show people how universities—not just Nebraska—are working to improve our lives.”

Runge is joined on the podcast by UNeMed licensing associate Tyler Scherr, Ph.D., and communications specialist Charlie Litton. The podcast is currently available on iTunes and Google Play Music. The podcast will eventually appear on Spotify after the third episode and on iHeartRadio after the fifth episode.

In the first episode, which runs about 17 minutes, the co-hosts banter about some of the more pervasive “myths” associated with tech transfer. They also discuss the idea of moving publicly funded research into things on a shelf, and point out that innovation doesn’t have to be a big idea to make a life-altering impact.

“I think what’s great about this project are the fun little nuggets we find about the innovations we discuss,” said Scherr. “This isn’t going to be a weekly innovation infomercial. Our goal here is to make these podcasts less ‘ShamWow!’ and more VH-1’s ‘Behind the Music.'”

All podcasts are expected to run about 15 minutes, and the hosts said they plan to discuss more than just Nebraska innovations. Initial podcasts, however, will discuss UNMC and UNO innovations, including Easi-CRISPR and Avert’s concussion device.

“We could make this about just Nebraska or UNMC or even just UNeMed,” Runge said. “But then that wouldn’t be very interesting to very many people. What is interesting is finding those stories and telling them in a compelling way. Plus, it helps us get Charlie out of the office.”