W. Mark Crowell, M.R.P.
President and Co-Founder, Arkane Innovation
Prior to launching Arkane Innovation, an international advisory services firm (based in Ireland, the UK and the US), Mr. Mark Crowell served as Vice President for Innovation and Economic Development at King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, Vice President for Business Development at the Scripps Research Institute in California and Florida, Founding Executive Director of UVA Innovation at the University of Virginia, Associate Vice Chancellor for Economic Development and Technology Transfer at UNC-Chapel Hill, and similar positions at North Carolina State and at Duke University. Mark holds a Master’s degree in Regional Planning and B.A. in International Studies from UNC-Chapel Hill. As a 32+ year veteran of academic technology transfer leadership positions, Mark helped to launch more than 135 start-up companies and numerous products and services, while demonstrably growing innovation partnerships and ecosystems around these institutions. Currently, Mark is a Senior Innovation Consultant with the World Bank, and serves as Executive Entrepreneur in Residence for the Eshelman Institute for Innovation at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, a novel initiative focused on accelerating the translation of early stage academic biomedical innovations into products and companies. Mark is internationally known as a practitioner and consultant in areas related to university innovation and business development, proof-of-concept and translational research initiatives, research commercialization and spinouts, policy-strategy-management of technology transfer, seed capital development, innovation-based economic development initiatives, research campus planning, accelerator programs, innovation district planning, university-industry (and foundation) partnerships, economic development strategy, and innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem development strategies. Mark’s current and past consulting clients include the World Bank, San Diego Biomedical Research Institute, the Bahrain Ministry of Higher Education (via the AAAS Research Competitiveness Program), the Qatar Foundation, TEConomy Partners, the American University of Cairo, and a number of other universities and innovation districts. In 2013, Mark received the 2013 Bayh-Dole Award from the Association of University Technology Managers in recognition of his “untiring efforts to foster and promote intellectual property activities on behalf of the university and nonprofit community”.