52:9ZZ-6 Higher Education-Business Partnership Ombudsman.

6. In addition to any other duties and responsibilities that the commission may assign to the executive director, the executive director shall serve as the Higher Education-Business Partnership Ombudsman. A business that seeks to form a partnership with an institution of higher education may collaborate and work with the ombudsman in the establishment of that partnership. The ombudsman shall:

a. Assist business and industry in making the appropriate contacts at the institutions of higher education that may be necessary to foster a partnership;

b. Make available to business and industry information on research efforts, either planned or in progress, at institutions of higher education that may be applicable to the work of that business or industry and may foster its interest in establishing a collaboration or partnership with the institution;

c. Collaborate with institutions of higher education in the establishment of strategies that an institution might implement to inform business and industry of the expertise and achievements of the institution's faculty and research staff applicable to the business or industry's area of interest;

d. Conduct annual outreach efforts to pharmaceutical companies to assess the interest of those companies in establishing clinical trials at institutions of higher education in the State;

e. Determine the specific reasons for any lack of interest in conducting clinical trials at institutions of higher education and then work with the institutions to implement actions that address the concerns and issues raised; and

f. Annually assess the success of institutions of higher education in meeting the research and development needs of business and industry.

L.2017, c.17, s.6.