Stu Kaback Business Impact Award

The application process will open on July 13th, 2023. Please note that there is no need to disclose any confidential or business sensitive information in the application.

About the Stu Kaback Business Impact Award

As the PIUG's mission is to "support, assist, improve and enhance the success of patent information professionals", it follows that one of the most important functions the PIUG should serve is to highlight the importance of patent information professionals to their respective organizations and to take a more active role in promoting and encouraging the growth of our profession.

In order to promote the profession and its practitioners, PIUG established in 2013 the annual Stu Kaback Business Impact Award to honor the memory of Dr. Stuart Kaback for his many outstanding accomplishments during his stellar 42 year career at ExxonMobil. As an internationally recognized expert in patent information, a multi-award winner and a prolific writer who inspired an entire generation of patent information professionals, Stu was a deeply respected and greatly loved "force of nature". Stu's unparalleled technical expertise in patent information and a diverse range of chemical and petroleum related technologies provided invaluable support to both R&D initiatives and in the protection of ExxonMobil's intellectual property assets. Stu's accomplishments demonstrate how a patent information professional can be critical to the success of a business.

The purpose of the Stu Kaback Business Impact Award is to recognize the achievements of an individual or a team of individuals who, in performing as patent information professionals, have made a distinct impact on an organization such as, but not limited to, a corporation, university, government agency, a non-government organization or a non-profit organization. A patent information professional for the purpose of this award is a person who searches, analyzes, organizes and/or disseminates patent information, or who designs patent information retrieval systems. A description of the award and the application process is provided below. I encourage you to check out the past winners and to consider applying for this prestigious award or to nominate a colleague who you believe has had a distinct impact on your organization.

Award Package

The PIUG-sponsored award consists of US$1500, a commemorative keepsake, and gratis registration at the PIUG 2024 Annual Conference, an International Conference for Patent Information Professionals. If a team is selected as the award recipient, the award of US $1500 will be divided equally amongst the team members, each member will receive a commemorative keepsake and the gratis registration will be awarded to a team representative, as designated by the team, who will be presented with the award during the PIUG 2024 Annual Conference.

Application Process

The deadline to apply for the 2024 Stu Kaback Business Impact Award is November 1, 2023, 11:59 PM US EST. Applications are welcome from all over the world and should be sent to secretary @ piug.org. Award applicants can either be self-nominated or nominated by another. If a team is nominated, the team members can be from the same organization or from different organizations. If you wish to nominate a patent information professional or a team of patent information professionals for the award, you will need to contact the nominee(s) as the award application requires their input as explained below.

Examples of situations worthy of nomination include, but are not limited to:

• performance of a patent landscaping project which helped an organization successfully manage a merger, acquisition or partnership;
• a patent validity search which helped a company avoid or support a major lawsuit or an opposition or revocation proceeding critical to the organization;
• the development or novel use of a tool or database involving patent information which helped an organization expand into a new market;
  
• organizing an advisory board to use patent information to improve a product or service; or
• assisting a project team with developing new ideas and exploring their patentability leading to a new product, process or service of the organization.

In order to apply for the award, each nominee, including all members of the team, must complete the application form, which includes the nominee's name, mailing address, phone number and email address, as well as the name, mailing address, phone number and email address of a suitable contact for each organization as applicable. At least one nominee must be a current member of PIUG.

The nominee will also need to provide an essay in English not to exceed 1500 words describing the work they did in achieving the accomplishment and explaining the impact that it had on the organization(s) at the time of achieving the accomplishment. In the case of a team nomination, only one essay is required from a team representative. The work should be generically described without including any confidential or business sensitive information. The selection committee does not need specific details about the work, but rather needs to understand the impact the work has had on the organization. The essay should also highlight how their patent information professional skills were integral to completing the described task.

The application should also include a letter in English signed by an executive or manager from the organization on the organization's letterhead, or in the case of a team nomination, a letter in English signed by an executive or manager from each of the organizations (on respective letterhead) who requested, supervised, or was involved with the work and who can attest to the impact it had on the organization. The manager should also discuss in the testimonial how the unique abilities, talents and/or determination of the nominee(s) made the achievement possible. The successful nominee(s) and the corresponding organization(s) must also agree to permit the announcement of the award recipient(s) and naming of the corresponding organization(s) to take place via several media outlets such as the PIUG website and wiki, social media channels and/or press releases. Any applications that do not meet all of the specified requirements may be disqualified. All decisions of the PIUG, Inc. in connection with the award are final.

In a change from previous years, only nominations submitted by the current year’s deadline will be considered. If you have applied in the past, you are welcome to resubmit your application. Suitable nominations need not necessarily describe recent projects but can depend upon the contemporary impact of their work.

Please submit applications for the award to secretary @ piug.org by November 1, 2023 11:59 PM US EST. I will personally notify the award recipient(s) of their success on or before 30 November 2023.

Kartar Singh Arora

PIUG Chair 2022-2024