Our Network

Strategic Advisory Board

The Strategic Advisory Board (SAB) plays a vital role in integrating impact licensing into the European IP and Innovation ecosystem. Our SAB members actively participate in co-creation activities and provide valuable guidance and recommendations during the project's implementation and beyond.

• Cliff Prior

  Cliff Prior is a civil society and impact investing leader with a track record of transformational change and strategic development. As CEO, Cliff brought the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG Impact) to engage 47 countries to work on impact investing. At Big Society Capital, the UK’s wholesale investment fund, he grew the initial £600 million to attract £2 billion in co-investment. As CEO of UnLtd, the UK foundation for social entrepreneurs, Cliff secured an additional £70 million in funding and expanded social entrepreneurship initiatives to 60% of UK universities – a model replicated in several countries. Cliff is currently an advisor to Gifftid.ai for development of small and medium enterprises, Impact Decentralised Impact Outcomes Marketplace (Impact DIOM) for tradeable impact outcomes, Muhdo Health for epigenetics, a board member of the City Bridge Foundation in London, and the Impact Investing Institute UK; and also remains an ambassador for GSG Impact. As a Strategic Advisory Board Member of the Impact Licensing Initiative, Cliff brings his expertise in impact investment, his experience in social entrepreneurship, and his deep knowledge of driving transformational change to support the project's mission.

• Chan Park

  Chan Park Chan Park is the General Counsel (Executive Leadership Team) at the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP). He has been with MPP since it was established in 2010, overseeing all legal matters of the organisation. As General Counsel, Chan forms a vital part of MPP’s negotiation team, and has successfully negotiated and drafted its licensing agreements. Before joining MPP, Chan was a member of the team at Unitaid that conceptualised and established MPP organisation. An attorney by training, Chan practised intellectual property (IP) law with US firm, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati, and served as Senior Technical and Policy Advisor for the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS unit in India. He has consulted for a number of international organisations, including the United Nations Development Programme, the World Health Organization and Unitaid, on a range of issues related to IP and access to medicines. Chan contributes its knowledge of global health access to Impact Licensing Initiative and supports the project as a key player in facilitating equitable access to essential medicines.

• Alessandro Fazio

  Alessandro Fazio started his career in investment banking with Deutsche Bank and then Merrill Lynch. Between 2004 and 2011 Alessandro spent a number of years working in the early-stage investment sector and was exposed to a wide variety of technologies and industry. Alessandro has keen interest in the technology transfer and in how to support the growth and expansion of innovation ecosystems using a holistic approach covering capacity building, financing and infrastructure investment. Alessandro joined the European Commission in 2011 and currently acts as head of the Joint Research Centre's Competence Centre on Technology Transfer. Over the last few years, Alessandro, has developed an interest on how to support the transfer of advanced technologies to low- and middle-income countries, including how to strengthen local technology absorption capacities and how to leverage innovative business and financial models.

• Tarik Nesh-Nash

  Tarik Nesh-Nash is currently the Senior Regional Coordinator for Open Government Partnership (OGP) of Africa and the Middle East. He earlier worked in software development at Microsoft in the United States and China. He has also engaged in Human Rights protection in Iraq with the International Committee of the Red Cross. He holds a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Washington and has completed fellowships at Cornell University Law School and the RMIT University Business School in Melbourne, Australia. Tarik has received recognition from the UN SDG Solutions Summit and the Ashoka Fellowship. In his OGP role, Tarik works with governments, civil society and international partners to promote transparency, accountability and participation in domestic agendas including digital governance and access to information. He brings diverse backgrounds in technology, law, business, and humanitarian fields with 20+ years of international experience applied in more than 40 countries.

• Axel Koch

  Axel Koch is a highly experienced technology transfer and licensing expert (RTTP) working as a Head of the Transfer Department at University of Kiel and Managing Director of CAU Innovation GmbH. In 2007, he co-founded the drug development start-up ElexoPharm GmbH and is still on the advisory board of the tech start-ups Acquandas and Veecle. He has been President of the German Association for Knowledge and Technology Transfer ‘TransferAlliance’ since 2021. Axel Koch lectures at various universities and is co-editor of the magazine ‘DUZ Transfer & Innovation’. His educational background is in business administration, which he obtained at the European Business School and at the Universities of Bergamo and Saarland. He sees impact-driven innovation and transfer as a very important possibility and opportunity for universities to achieve significantly more social impact in the future.

• Elisabetta Trasatti

  Elisabetta Trasatti is Unipreneurship Lead at EIT Digital, working at the intersection of entrepreneurial education and technology transfer. In her role she designed and launched SPIN, a portfolio of programmes supporting Deep Tech researchers and technology transfer professionals in research commercialisation. Previously, she worked at Morgan Stanley UK, in the Cyber Risk & Resilience division, specialising in process governance, data monitoring, and stakeholder communication. She was also involved in external engagement activities, including projects in partnership with FinTech Scotland and overseeing start-up outreach in Scotland for the Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab. Elisabetta brings expertise in strategic ecosystem engagement, entrepreneurial education, and university-industry collaboration, which she applies to facilitate cross-sectoral connections, drive awareness, and support the development of collaborative frameworks for the Impact Licensing Initiative.

• Kevin Nachtrab

  Kevin Nachtrab is an intellectual property attorney with over 40 years of experience in the biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and chemicals fields in international settings, most recently with Johnson & Johnson. Awarded the Gold Medal by the Licensing Executives Society International (LESI) in 2022 for contributions to the IP and Technology Licensing profession, Kevin has served on the Board of Trustees of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (2006-2013), the Board of Governors of the Certified Licensing Professionals (2010-2013), and International President of LESI in 2012-2013. Kevin has also been a Visiting Professor at seven Universities in China, Taiwan and India and a Research Expert for the Wuhan and Hunan IP Offices. Kevin’s background also includes direct representation of parties before both the European and United States patent offices, responsibility for co-ordination and management of global IP litigation and responsibility for global IP strategy and intellectual asset management for both large and small companies in the United States and Europe. Drawing his extensive expertise in licensing as well as in different technical fields, as Strategic Advisory Board member, Kevin provides guidance and support to Impact Licensing Initiative throughout the project implementation and beyond.butes its knowledge of global health access to Impact Licensing Initiative and supports the project as a key player in facilitating equitable access to essential medicines.

• Kristina Babelytė-Labanauskė

  Kristina Babelytė-Labanauskė leads Vilnius University Innovation Office, that facilitates university collaboration with business, social and other partners. With the PhD in social sciences (strategic management) and over a decade of professional experience in innovation management and technology transfer, Kristina focuses on research and development (R&D) commercialisation as well as mentors and advises entrepreneurs and start-ups of university's community on innovation support issues. International project portfolio includes coordination of the UNITeD (EIT-funded), WP lead in the UNIcorn (EIT-funded), Chair of the Knowledge Transfer Focus group in Alliance4Life (Horizon 2020) and others. Since 2021, she is Registered Technology Transfer Professional, also the member of the ASTP. Leveraging her extensive experience in innovation management and involvement in various EU-funded projects, Kristina, as a member of the Strategic Advisory Board, offers valuable guidance and support to the Impact Licensing Initiative project.

• Dr Emma Salgård Cunha

  Dr Emma Salgård Cunha is Associate Director in the Technology Development and Licensing team at Cambridge Enterprise, the innovation office of the University of Cambridge. Emma is a technology transfer professional who leads Cambridge’s support for innovation and enterprise projects emerging from research in the arts, humanities and social science disciplines. With special interests in social enterprise creation, Emma has supported dozens of university enterprises developing research and evidence-based approaches in a broad range of sectors: from public health to global development to financial services. The University of Cambridge's international research community and the dedication of Cambridge researchers to creating equitable access to novel research guides the work of Cambridge Enterprise in exploring best practice for sustainable and impact-focused technology transfer.

• Urša Jerše

  Urša Jerše Urša Jerše is the Head of the Knowledge Transfer Office at the University of Ljubljana. Along with the management and strategic steering of the Office, she assists researchers in negotiating and concluding research and development (R&D) contracts with the business sector. She is involved in the intellectual property (IP) and commercialisation activities, by applying her legal expertise to negotiate and draft licensing agreements and contracts related to transfer of intellectual property rights. Since her employment at the University of Ljubljana, she was actively involved in the process of protecting more than 50 inventions and establishment of 12 spin-outs. Before joining University of Ljubljana in April 2018, she worked at a public research institute where she encountered the knowledge transfer from public research institutions to the business sector and gained extensive experience, foremost with the procedures of acquiring and protecting employment-related inventions, R&D contract negotiation, and concluding licensing agreements. As a Strategic Advisory Board member, Urša contributes to the Impact Licensing Initiative by offering her expertise in technology transfer and her extensive experience in drafting and negotiating IP related contracts.