Isaac T. Kohlberg will leave his role as Director of Harvard technology development at the end of 2025, concluding a 20 -year term in which he created and expanded the office that helps Harvard affiliates to market their research, University announced on Thursday.
Kohlberg joined Harvard in 2005 and quickly created the Technology development office To centralize the process of creating new technologies from laboratories to startups.
The OTD helps researchers patent their work and transform it into companies or seek license agreements with existing companies. At the office, Kohlberg supervised the management of the intellectual property of Harvard researchers and the negotiation of research alliances with industry leaders.
The OTD offers funding subsidies, supports startups and helps researchers patent their work. In the office, Kohlberg supervised the management of the intellectual property of Harvard researchers and looked for industry funding for teachers.
Kohlberg has directed the creation of three accelerators – the Blavatnik biomedical accelerator,, Grid acceleratorand climate translation funds and sustainability – which offer funding and commercial training to help scientists market translational research.
He also widened corporate partnerships at OTD, establishing relationships with companies like Amazon and fashion labels Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior. Since 2020, the office has obtained nearly $ 300 million in research funding.
“We are constantly making awareness programs. We give conferences in laboratories. We organize series of seminars – everything we can to try to make people realize here and we can help you when they need it,” said Christopher J. Petty, Director of Business Development at the OTD, in an interview in March with The Crimson.
Before joining Harvard, Kohlberg was previously vice-prevail of New York University and head of the administration of the Nyu School of Medicine. He was previously CEO of the economic corporation of the University of Tel Aviv and the Commercial Branch of the Weizmann Institute of Sciences.
When Kohlberg took his role In Harvard, the University sought to extend its income from license agreements. During the 2003 fiscal year, Harvard reported $ 24 million in license revenues – compared to more than $ 31 million in the MIT and $ 178 million at Columbia University. Kohlberg hiring has been largely understood as an answer by administrators who Fearing that Harvard is delayed.
Two technology transfer offices were combined in the OTD at the start of Kohlberg’s mandate, and quickly hired 10 new employees. His new office focused on the professionalization of the Harvard patent deposit system, the triggering of links between researchers and business alumni and the guarantee of industry financing.
Under Kohlberg, Harvard’s marketing revenues increased to $ 107 million during fiscal 2024, considerably exceeded the MIT, although the figures fluctuate from year to year. But Harvard does not see the license agreements as a means of recovering his research expenses: the total remains low compared to nearly $ 1.5 billion that Harvard spent on research that year.
Instead, Kohlberg said to crimson In 2016, the OTD focused on how technological transfers can change the world for the best.
“The societal impact comes first,” he said at the time. “And when you hold this view, you hold it like a mountain.”
The work of the OTD caused a sensation in the industry. Since 2000, Startups based on Harvard Technologies have raised more than $ 15 billion in funding, including nearly $ 2.8 billion in the past three years, the university estimates.
“While I start the next chapter in my life, I am deeply proud of everything we have accomplished together,” Kohlberg said in an interview with the Harvard Gazette.
“The Harvard community has shown what is possible when great ideas are encountered with business spirit, intelligent funding and a commitment to the public good. The next wave of discovery and impact is just beginning,” he added.
Kohlberg will stay at university as an advisor while Harvard begins to seek his successor.
– The writer of staff Sunshine Chen can be reached at Sunshine.chen@thecrimson.com. Follow it on x @Sunshine_cxn.
– The writer of the staff Danielle J. IM can be reached at Danielle.im@thecrimson.com.