UCLA appoints associate vice chancellor for intellectual property, research
Amir Naiberg was appointed as the UCLA associate vice chancellor for intellectual property and industry sponsored research Tuesday. (Courtesy of UCLA Newsroom)
By Kuhelika Ghosh
Aug. 12, 2016 9:29 a.m.
UCLA officials appointed a lawyer as the associate vice chancellor for intellectual property and industry sponsored research and leader of an entrepreneurship advising board Tuesday.
Amir Naiberg has been leading the Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Sponsored Research and has been the chief executive officer of Westwood Technology Transfer since Aug. 3, according to a UCLA press release.
The Office of Intellectual Property and Industry Sponsored Research is UCLA’s technology transfer office, and is responsible for supporting research, entrepreneurship and helping research projects gain patents.
The Westwood Technology Transfer, a nonprofit organization that consists of 10 board members, assists UCLA in commercializing research and making entrepreneurial decisions.
According to the press release, Naiberg will work with business incubators and accelerators on campus, to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and research at UCLA.
Naiberg was a legal advisor from Israel before coming to the U.S. In Israel, he advised the Yeda Research and Development Company, a technology transfer company of Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, for five years, according to the press release. He was formerly the company’s CEO.
Additionally, Naiberg is one of the founders of the Israel Technology Transfer Organization, a nonprofit based in Israel that unites technology transfer offices throughout the country.
Before joining Yeda, he also worked for a private law firm specializing in intellectual property, privacy and cyberspace law, according to the press release. Naiberg graduated from the Hebrew University School of Law and the University of Connecticut School of Law.
Naiberg will report to interim vice chancellor, Ann Karagozian, UCLA professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. She was appointed in January, after James Economou, former vice chancellor for research, completed his five-year term in December 2015 and decided to return to the faculty full time.
