AIEA Pre-Conference Panel

​University tech transfer has produced landmark outcomes — Stanford's licensing of the Google algorithm, Flagship Pioneering's creation of Moderna. But the model for turning research into companies is changing. Alongside the traditional invention–licence–spinoff pipeline, new approaches are emerging: industry veterans joining faculty to commercialise their own research with students, venture builders embedding commercial teams in university labs, and universities launching their own in-house venture studios. A May 2026 report from the World Economic Forum and Stanford's Venture Capital Initiative names strengthening university–industry connections as one of five strategic priorities for global venture capital.

​In this AIEA pre-conference panel, Professor Lim Sun Sun (Vice President, Partnerships & Engagement, Singapore Management University) moderates a candid conversation with Professor Josh Lerner (Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking, Harvard Business School), Professor Scott Stern (David Sarnoff Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management), Associate Professor Laura Wynter (School of Computing and Information Systems, Singapore Management University), and Mr Clarence Tan (Founder, Origgin Ventures). Drawing on real cases — from MIT's Proto Ventures to Origgin's forty-five university spinoffs — the discussion asks what is driving the shift, how these models differ, and whether they can travel across contexts, not just Singapore and Cambridge.