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NIELS J. REIMERS an Oral History Conducted by Larry Horton

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NIELS J. REIMERS an Oral History Conducted by Larry Horton NIELS J. REIMERS An Oral History conducted by Larry Horton STANFORD HISTORICAL SOCIETY ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM Stanford University ©2015 2 Photo: Michele Firpo Niels Reimers 3 4 Contents Introduction p. 7 Abstract p. 9 Biography p. 11 Interview Transcript p. 13 Topics p. 101 5 6 Introduction This oral history was conducted by the Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program in collaboration with the Stanford University Archives. The program is under the direction of the Oral History Committee of the Stanford Historical Society. The Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program furthers the Society’s mission “to foster and support the documentation, study, publication, dissemination, and preservation of the history of the Leland Stanford Junior University.” The program explores the institutional history of the University, with an emphasis on the transformative post-WWII period, through interviews with leading faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, and others. The interview recordings and transcripts provide valuable additions to the existing collection of written and photographic materials in the Stanford University Archives. Oral history is not a final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a unique, reflective, spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it may be deeply personal. Each oral history is a reflection of the past as the interviewee remembers and recounts it. But memory and meaning vary from person to person; others may recall events differently. Used as primary source material, any one oral history will be compared with and evaluated in light of other evidence, such as contemporary texts and other oral histories, in arriving at an interpretation of the past. Although the interviewees have a past or current connection with Stanford University, they are not speaking as representatives of the University. Each transcript is edited by program staff and by the interviewee for grammar, syntax, and occasional inaccuracies and to aid in overall clarity and readability, while maintaining the substantive content of the interview as well as the interviewee’s voice. As a result of this editing process, the transcript does not match the recording verbatim. In the rare case that a substantive deletion has been made, this is indicated at the relevant place on the transcript. Any substantive additions are noted in brackets or by footnote. 7 All uses of the interview transcript and recording are covered by a legal agreement between Niels J. Reimers and the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University (“Stanford”). The copyright to the transcript and recording, including the right to publish, is reserved by Stanford University. The transcript and recording are freely made available for non-commercial purposes, with proper citation provided in print or electronic publication. No part of the transcript or recording may be used for commercial purposes without the written permission of the Stanford University Archivist or his/her representative. Requests for commercial use should be addressed to [email protected] and should indicate the items to be used, extent of usage, and purpose. This oral history should be cited as: Reimers, Niels J. (2015). Oral History. Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program Interviews (SC0932). Department of Special Collections & University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif. 8 Abstract Niels J. Reimers, founder and former director of the Office of Technology Licensing (OTL), begins his interview describing his family and living in Norway and Carmel, California. He describes his student days at Stanford and Oregon State as a mechanical engineering major, and he reflects on the three years he spent in the Navy on the USS Bon Homme Richard. Reimers also discusses his experience as an industrial engineer at Ampex and his transition into marketing at Philco Western Development Laboratories (later Philco-Ford) where he learned about contract law and how to develop new products from scratch. Reimers recounts his work as lead negotiator for Ford Aeronutronic on a contract change to the Reentry Management Program with the US Air Force and his departure from industry. Reimers describes his return to Stanford as Associate Director of Research Administration and his early interest in commercializing research inventions. He speaks of the system present at Stanford when he arrived in which there was no organized patent program. Inventions were sent to an outside company, Research Corporation, for licensing, and Stanford received minimal royalty income. Reimers describes the creation and approval of the pilot program for the Office of Technology Licensing and the development of a new royalty distribution system. He remembers the inventors and inventions he worked with, including Bill Johnson’s synthetic juvenile growth hormone for pest control, John Chowning’s work with altering the perceptual location of sound in space for electronic keyboards, Stan Cohen’s plasmid and Herb Boyer’s restriction enzyme which led to recombinant DNA, and Art Schawlow’s lasers for erasing. Reimers goes on to describe the autonomy he had managing OTL, his relationship with various deans of research, and working through potential conflicts of interest for inventors. He also discusses how OTL’s entrepreneurial model set it apart from other universities. 9 Reimers recounts his involvement with the Bayh-Dole bill, which gave universities the right to the results of their research. He later reflects on his time spent at MIT, the University of California,Berkley, and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) working to help them reform their technology licensing programs. Reimers concludes the interview by summarizing his experience at Stanford, reminiscing about the research discoveries he came across, and reflecting on changes in the administration at Stanford, his retirement, and his activities after he left Stanford. 10 Niels J. Reimers Biography Niels J. Reimers is the founder and Director Emeritus of the Stanford University Office of Technology Licensing (OTL). He joined Stanford in 1968 and founded OTL in 1969, serving as its director until retirement in 1991. Reimers has been internationally recognized for what has been called the “Stanford Model” of technology transfer. After learning that Stanford’s cumulative income attained from technology transfer from 1954 to 1967 was just over $4,500, he proposed a one-year pilot program using novel methods for marketing and licensing discoveries arising from research by Stanford scientists. The pilot year was successful and Stanford established OTL as a permanent office. The cumulative income from that pilot year until 2016 was almost $2 billion. Reimers has received many awards and honors, including the Association of University Technology Managers Bayh-Dole Award, the Licensing Executives Society Award of Honor, election to the Intellectual Property Hall of Fame, election to the Oregon State University School of Engineering Hall of Fame, and recognition by the Life Sciences Foundation. He was the first president of the Licensing Executives Society (USA and Canada) who came from a university. Stanford “loaned” Reimers to MIT and to the University of California, Berkeley for an academic year each, where he established their OTLs based on the Stanford model. He later established the OTL at University of California, San Francisco. He has consulted in establishing and advising university technology licensing offices worldwide. Called the “Father of Technology Transfer” in Japan, Reimers made annual lecture visits to Japanese universities for many years. Reimers was born in Carmel, California, of Norwegian immigrant parents. He studied at Stanford and Oregon State, receiving both a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts in mechanical engineering in 1956. The unusual BA in engineering resulted from his interest in courses such as philosophy, marketing, accounting, history, and literature. After serving three years in the US Navy as radio officer and deck officer, he worked in manufacturing, 11 engineering, and contract management at Ampex Corporation and Philco Western Development Laboratories before joining Stanford. Now retired with wife, Janet in his hometown of Carmel, Reimers enjoys visiting (and visits from) their three children and ten grandchildren, as well as golf, old friends, and travel. 12 S T A N F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y PROJECT: STANFORD STAFF ORAL HISTORY PROJECT INTERVIEWER: LARRY HORTON INTERVIEWEE: NIELS J. REIMERS DATE OF INTERVIEW: JULY 2, 2015 NOTE: This transcript was edited for the sake of readability and accuracy; it does not correspond to the interview recording verbatim. Horton: This is Larry Horton. We are doing an oral history interview with Niels Reimers. It is July 2nd, 2015 and we’re doing it at his home in Carmel. Niels, can you describe a bit your life before you came to Stanford? Reimers: [00:00:26] Yes. My father was the youngest son of a farm family in Norway, where the oldest son gets the farm. He learned to be an electrician and immigrated to the United States in the 1920s. He worked in New York and then came out to California. He actually worked at Werry Electric in Palo Alto and then came down to Carmel. He was one of Carmel’s first electricians and he thought it was a wonderful spot to live. He then called his sweetheart in Norway, suggested she visit California. They decided to get married and set up housekeeping in Carmel. [00:01:22] I have a brother, Gunnar, and he’s two years older. He lives in Carmel Valley. 13 I went to Sunset School here in Carmel from kindergarten on and through the Carmel High School. However, during 1946-47 we moved back to Norway and we were there for fourteen months before returning to Carmel. [00:02:02] I got to know all my cousins very well, as well as the uncles and aunts that were still alive and one grandparent who happened to have been elected to Norway’s parliament from the farm.
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