Lita Nelsen, Director of the Technology Licensing Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), receives this award in recognition of her work in innovation and technology/knowledge transfer. Ms Nelsen has been instrumental in shaping the UK's technology transfer landscape.
On receiving the award, Ms Nelsen said, "I am deeply honoured personally, but even more importantly, I believe this award shows recognition of the importance of technology transfer from universities to the British economy and society. I am also enormously grateful to my colleagues in Praxis who have allowed me to join with them in the wonderful adventure of building Praxis."
Ms Nelsen co-founded Praxis Courses Ltd, the not-for-profit UK technology transfer programme, in 2002, with Professor David Secher, then Director of Research Services at Cambridge University. Praxis has played a key role in shifting the culture of UK universities towards commercialisation. The implementation of the Praxis course programme addressed a critical gap in the sector's skill base and Praxis now enables technology/knowledge transfer professionals to maximise the impact of UK research for the benefit of society and to strengthen the economy.
Professor Secher received the Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion 2007 for his work with Praxis. The award recognised his leadership role in advancing enterprise in the UK and improving the UK innovation and knowledge transfer sector.
Professor Secher added, "We at Praxis are all delighted by this fitting recognition of Lita's enormous contributions to Praxis and to the UK economy. In 2009, only seven people worldwide have been accorded this honour and we believe that this is the first time ever that a foreign national working in the field of technology transfer has been honoured by the Queen in this way. It has been a privilege to work closely with Lita for the past nine years and we are fortunate that Lita continues to serve as a director of Praxis.
Since its inception, Praxis has trained nearly 1800 commercialisation professionals in the UK and overseas and its courses are now recognised as standard training for knowledge transfer staff. Praxis is led by an expert volunteer committee of knowledge transfer professionals, drawn from the UK's leading universities, business and funding agencies.
20 February 2009