Conflict of Interest and Startups at MIT

MIT’s sponsored research exceeds $750M annually, with funding received from federal agencies, private foundations, and industry. MIT also has a global reputation for its startup, innovation, and entrepreneurial culture with 30+ startups launched annually in collaboration with the MIT Technology Licensing Office (TLO).
 
This seminar is designed to build your financial conflict of interest (fCOI) knowledge base by presenting the history and evolution of the financial conflict of interest in research regulations, providing an overview of the COI process at MIT, and outlining the benefits of a collaborative process with the TLO.
 
Rupinder Grewal, MIT COI Officer, and Linda Chao, Technology Licensing Officer, will provide historical context and insight into topics, including the discussion of these and other questions:
 

• Given the financial drivers of the for-profit world, how does MIT ensure that objectivity is maintained in its fundamental research activities? 
• How does MIT protect research results from influence when an Investigator has outside financial interests?
• What kinds of fCOI situations arise in our environment and how do we manage them?
• How do researchers navigate potential COI issues in startup activities?