SpaceCom 2018

Roger Werne, PhD
Deputy Director, Industrial Partnerships Office
Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL)


Dr. Werne has broad experience in the commercialization of technology developed within the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In the late eighties he started and led the Industrial Partnering program while he was Associate Director for Engineering, an organization of approximately 2,500 people that supported all Laboratory Programs. In 1995 he left LLNL and co-founded ITI Medical Technologies, a medical device company that developed unique surgical instruments for the field of Magnetic Resonance Image(MRI) guided surgery, a new minimally invasive surgical paradigm. The company patented, developed, and had FDA approval of a unique line of electrosurgical instruments which are still on sale in the medical market place. In late 1999 he rejoined the Laboratory as Chief Engineer for the NAI/Homeland Security Directorate having the mission of countering the proliferation and use of weapons of mass destruction(WMD) against the United States. He is currently Deputy Director for Innovation and Partnerships at LLNL responsible for licensing laboratory developed intellectual property to the private sector and overseeing Cooperative Research and Development Agreements(CRADAs) with industry. He also works with the Bay Area entrepreneurial community to find a match between a market need and a LLNL technology with the hope starting a new company based on LLNL intellectual property. Dr. Werne received his Ph.D. in Structures and Solid Mechanics from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Werne is also a pole vaulter in Masters Track & Field and a part time Assistant Track and Field Coach at a local high school.

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