George Gamota has more than 30 years of experience in business development, technology commercialization, benchmarking science & technology and higher education.

 

He has held senior positions in industry, government, and academe, with major responsibility over the conduct of R&D, commercializing technology, business development, and evaluation of technology assistance programs.  He is an expert on outcome evaluations techniques, particularly useful for assessing government programs.  He has written extensively on a wide range of technology and business related topics in Japan, New Zealand, Ukraine, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the U.S.  He authored, edited and contributed to a number of books, journal articles and reports. He has been invited to speak at national and international conferences on: research priorities, critical technologies, managing technology companies, use of Distance Learning to enhance business training, and the role of business incubators and Research Parks in the development of small and medium businesses in the former Soviet States.

 

Experience in Ukraine, Central Asia, and the Caucasus

Gamota has worked in the former Soviet Union since 1991.  He has 13 years of experience working in Central and Eastern Europe. Six years were spent designing and managing technology business incubators and competitive grant programs in Ukraine.  Two such programs included: the Kharkiv Initiative and the training in Slavutych, a new city created by workers from the disabled Chornobyl nuclear reactor, Additionally he worked with countries in Central Asian and nations in the Caucasus on:

  • Modernizing higher education programs

  • Innovation from the Laboratory to the Market

  • Creation of Business Incubators and Techno Parks

  • Business Planning

Below are some of the highlights in his professional career

George Gamota, PhD

In 2004, he organized an education meeting/conference in Baku, Azerbaijan on curriculum reform in higher education.  Attendees were from other Central Asian countries in addition to representatives from three other countries in the Caucuses.  The effort continues to the present.

§         April 2001 -September 2002. Gamota authored four reports for several USAID contractors in Ukraine.  The reports included:

Ø      Market Analysis within the Donetsk Oblast to Assess the Commercial Viability of e-learning
       Products;

Ø      Findings and Recommendations for stimulating business development in Crimea;

Ø      Findings and Recommendations for enhancing business developing in Slavutych; and

Ø      Outcomes of the One-on-One Technical Assistance to Business Association BIZPRO Program -
      Comprehensive Review

§         April 2000 - September 2002. Gamota managed a 10 city (Ukraine) U.S. State Department Business Development program utilizing Distance Learning techniques.  The program was successfully rolled-out to 28 organizations.  The program, “the Ukrainian Distance Learning (UDL) System”, headquartered in Lviv was established as an NGO.  The program has received high praise from senior officials at the US Embassy in Kyiv -  http://www.udl.org.ua  

§         1999. Gamota designed and managed the Kharkiv (Ukraine) based USAID supported Marketing Assistance Program (MAP). MAP was established in direct request of the Secretary of State.  Gamota oversaw the training of 400 persons from mid size companies.

§         1997 - 2001 Gamota served as the In-Country Manager and Chief Operations Officer of the USAID sponsored Business Incubator Development (BID) Program.  He established small business incubators in Kyiv and Kharkiv which, to date, have trained and provided consulting services to 613 small technology companies, representing more than 9000 employees.  At the direction of the NIS Coordinator, the now current Ambassador William Taylor, and with support from the White House, Gamota expanded the program to Slavutych, a city where displaced workers from the Chornobyl nuclear power plant reside. This program was cited by President Clinton during his historic (2000) Ukrainian trip.

§         In 1994, Gamota was appointed a consultant to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences Committee on International Security and Arms Control, and managed the program in Ukraine.  He consulted on issues surrounding the elimination of nuclear weapons and control of related rocket and space propulsion technology. 

§         In 1992 Gamota served on an U.S. Emergency Task Force to aid former Soviet scientists and engineers; he managed the American Physical Society’s competitive small grants program which provided more than 800 awards to young Ukrainian scientists.

§         In 1992 Gamota received a grant from the US Department of Defense (DOD) to visit and document Ukrainian technical capabilities. He visited 26 institutes and technical companies (zavody) in 6 cities).  The report was a five-volume document and although more then 15 years old is still current and used by American companies and US Government.

 

Gamota has maintained contact with many past and current senior government officials in the former Soviet Union, both on a local and national level. He has been named Honorary Citizen of Slavutych for his work in establishing the Slavutych business incubator.  He has received several special awards for his accomplishments, including being named to the prestigious Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences and an Honorary Fellow of the Ukrainian Physical Society. He was also named a member to the Board of the International Management Institute’s Center for Innovation Development. 

 

As an educator, Gamota called for reforms of former Soviet universities and higher education in particular, and after 9/11/2001 sought to bring change in mostly Muslim countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus.

 

 

Experience in Europe, Japan and New Zealand

·         Beginning in 1982, Gamota formulated a methodology to evaluate foreign science and technology and benchmark it against U.S efforts.  Some of these programs continue today; others have been copied by a number of U.S. Agencies and U.S. industry.

·         Led an effort to evaluate New Zealand’s New Economy Research Fund, 2006-2007

·         Assisted the Japanese Government in evaluating their research program, 2001, 2006

·         Assessed Japanese and European science and technology (JTEC/WTEC) 1983- present

·         Assessed (then) Soviet and Chinese science and technology (FASAC) 1982-1992

Industrial and U.S. Government Experience

Gamota led a US Department of Energy (DOE) effort to develop metrics for outcome analysis of their research portfolio.  He served as senior corporate consultant for a number of U.S. companies and was on their boards. He has advised government agencies: DOE, NSF, NASA, and DARPA, and has been responsible for developing technology programs of special interest for the NSF, DOD and the IC. 

 

EMPLOYMENT

 

Founder & President, STMA, LLC (dba: Science & Technology Management Associates) in Lexington, MA.

(1984-present)

 

Director of the MITRE Institute at the MITRE Corporation (1989-1996)

Gamota directed training and continuing education for the MITRE Corporation.  His main accomplishments included: creating the first management training program and initiating e-learning programs focusing on retraining engineers from defense to commercial efforts.

 

Founding President, Thermo Electron Technologies Corporation (1986-1989)

This $17 M high technology firm specialized in lasers, optics, customized computers, space power materials, and specialty instruments.  His significant accomplishments included directing a major acquisition and establishing a new laser company.

Director of the Institute of Science and Technology and Professor of Physics at the University of Michigan (1981-1986). Established the Michigan Research Corporation, a private venture company/incubator to identify, fund and manage the spin off of university inventions into businesses. Managed a 400 person interdisciplinary research unit.

Director, Defense Research, Office of the Secretary of Defense (1976-1981).  His major assignments included organizing the research office, developing new technologies for military applications, setting priorities by identifying the most promising technologies, and managing budgets internally through the military departments, the White House, and Congress.  For his work in DOD, he received the US Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Award. He was a founding SES member.

Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, (1967-1976).  He is credited with several landmark discoveries in solid-state physics and has published extensively in refereed journals and books. He also served on the Governor’s Commission of Capital Needs of New Jersey, providing economic development recommendations in business development area.

EDUCATION and Awards:

Gamota holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Michigan. He also received: Certificates of Appreciation from the Presidential Management Interns, the Technology Council of Michigan, the American Legion Award, fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Science (AAAS), fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), honorary fellow of the Ukrainian Physical Society, foreign member of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, and senior member of the IEEE.

PUBLICATIONS

A sample of his publications, include: Defense Department’s Research Program—Gaining Ground; Japan’s Strides in Science and Technology—The Status of Soviet Civil Science—Japan’s Growing Technological Capability: Implications for the US Economy— Science, Technology and Conversion in Ukraine, Technology Small Business Development in Ukraine, Metrics for Evaluating Applied research Programs, Outcome Evaluation of New Zealand's New Economy Research Fund and Taking Research Results to the Marketplace.