|
|
Richard Jefferson
Director, Initiative for Open Innovation (IOI) &C EO, Cambia
Professor Richard Jefferson is the founder and CEO of Cambia (www.cambia.org ), a global non-profit social enterprise which for two decades has combined invention and distribution of enabling biotechnologies with intellectual property informatics, social entrepreneurship and the fostering of open and equitable innovation ecosystems.
Cambia’s most prominent work products include the BiOS Initiative (Biological Open Source; www.bios.net ) and Patent Lens (www.patentlens.net) the world’s pre-eminent free and open patent search and analysis facility. In 2008, with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Cambia relocated to Brisbane and where Richard became the Founding Director of the Initiative for Open Innovation (IOI www.openinnovation.org ) based at the Queensland University of Technology, where he is also Professor of Science, Technology & Law. Richard is a pioneer in agricultural biotechnology and is known for his expertise in the areas of molecular enabling technologies, intellectual property reform and innovation system design. His work has been cited in the primary literature over 10,000 times and has been licensed by virtually every company in agricultural biotechnology worldwide.
Richard was the first senior molecular biologist with the United Nations, and for 25 years has worked and taught extensively in the developing world, including supporting the Rockefeller Foundation’s rice biotechnology network, and has advised numerous UN Agencies, Conventions, World Bank, corporations, governments and civil society.
He is a regular panelist at the World Economic Forum’s Davos annual meetings and summits, the recipient of the American Society of Plant Science’ ‘Leadership in Science’ award, and was named to Scientific American’s list of the world’s 50 Most Influential Technologists. His work has featured in media in dozens of countries, and includes profiles in The Economist, New York Times, Newsweek, Red Herring, Nature, Science, Nature Biotechnology and many others. Richard’s interests in more equitable, effective and robust innovation ecosystems for social and environmental change has seen a convergence in his research activities. A common thread is the design of new approaches for cartography of complex networked systems – both biological and economic - through the lens of the hologenome theory of evolution.
|