Irvine, Calif., January 27, 2020 – UC Irvine (UCI) Beall Applied Innovation has named David Gibbons the director for Industry Sponsored Research (ISR), effective January 27. He will report directly to Richard Sudek, Applied Innovation’s executive director and chief innovation officer at UCI.
Resources coming to UCI from industry, and outflows from UCI to industry, are essential to support, and to continually increase, Orange County’s research infrastructure and to stimulate economic growth in the region. In this ISR role, Gibbons will establish and maintain a best practices-driven unit for initiating and managing the multiple transactions that are essential to these relationships. Gibbons has an extensive background in industry contracting, intellectual property licensing and business development.
He has more than 18 years of experience in evaluating, protecting and monetizing diverse technology portfolios and has sharpened his skills with roles within UC San Diego (UCSD) and the United States Navy. During his time with the United States Navy, Gibbons started as a contract administrator, where he developed requirements for the RFP/RFQ and bid process, and promoted up through several roles, landing as the program manager where he directed procurement efforts for a broad base of medical facilities. He moved on to UCSD and began his career there as a licensing officer in the Office of Innovation & Commercialization and most recently held the title of associate director, commercialization. Gibbons was directly responsible for new business development and commercialization of UCSD research through patent and copyright licensing and was the primary liaison for UCSD’s Office of Contracts and Grants Administration for negotiating IP-sensitive industry research agreements. Additionally, Gibbons was a top producer, closing over 185 fee-based patent and copyright license agreements.
“UCI is a premier research institute and we actively collaborate with our industry partners,” said Sudek. “David has proven he can establish research and technology partnerships and is a perfect fit for this role and will enhance the value of UCI’s research.”
Gibbons will be replacing Kevin Kennan, who is set to retire at the end of February.
“I am very excited to join the Beall Applied Innovation team as UCI leadership has done an excellent job integrating all of the innovation ecosystem pieces into one cohesive whole,” said Gibbons. “With its ‘one-stop-shop’ approach, Applied Innovation can support innovators throughout their journey, from initial idea to first product, all under one roof.”