Over the holiday weekend, I caught up on some interesting technology transfer articles, papers, and blogs. Today, I share them with you.
Bayh-Dole Supporting Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Released by the Association of University Technology Managers® (AUTM®) and published on IPWatchdog.com®, this article provides preliminary data on a survey of nearly 100 academic institutions worldwide regarding their “acceptance and encouragement of students in the economic development of their ideas.” Well more than two-thirds reported that they provide a variety of programs and resources to help support student innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization. A single example of such a program was… Continue reading →
This Friday, April 19th, at 1pm EDT I will be a panelist in a 
One of the items in my last “worth reading” post — Stefan Lindegaard’s blog post “Are Universities, Tech Transfer Units Open Innovation Losers?” — is getting a lot of attention, including a Technology Transfer Tactics blog post. Given the discussions in several tech transfer groups across LinkedIn (including AUTM, Techno-L, and Technology Transfer – Valorisation), I’d like to offer some further thoughts here. Open innovation refers to the spin-in as well as the spin-out of ideas, technology, etc. Approaching these two “directions” in concert and proactively — what we’ve called Symbiotic Innovation — is an essential component for revolutionizing technology transfer. 
Is your new year’s resolution to better keep up with the latest in the technology transfer industry? Then consider this blog post a helping hand. And if you have opinions about these tech transfer “good reads” or fav articles/blogs of your own, share them by posting a comment below or sending me a private message. 
As we roll into the holiday times, many of us are starting to toss around ideas that can make our organizations better in 2013 – more productive, more successful, more efficient, and (I hope) more meaningful! In that spirit, I wanted to share with you a tool that may help you as you embark on your strategic 2013 planning. For many organizations, open innovation is one approach that they are likely to implement in 2013, if they have not already done so. I think open innovation is a great approach to R&D in many ways. (You can check out my many musings on open innovation in our insights section.) However,… 
There’s a big difference between how research organizations and private corporations communicate and think about technology transfer. Research organizations tend to focus on how to manage and share their intellectual property (IP). Technologies are often embryonic, development moves at a deliberate pace, and the focus isn’t so much on developing a product as on developing the next innovation. For industry, IP has to serve a purpose and advance the bottom line, whether it’s creating new revenue sources, improving net profits, or moving products quickly into the marketplace. Research organizations that act proactively can… 
As Nannette Stangle-Castor and I get ready for Fuentek’s new webinar on implementing open innovation best practices in technology transfer offices (TTOs), I am reminded of conversations I’ve had with a wide range of tech transfer professionals over the years. What has struck me time and again in these discussions is the broad applicability of open innovation concepts to tech transfer and the value of implementing these concepts in a proactive manner. Despite the fact that government, university, and corporate TTOs vary in their missions, perspectives on innovation, goals/metrics, and economic and entrepreneurial climates, they all have the potential to benefit from implementing sound principles related to open innovation. 
Most of you who have read my posts know that I am a strong advocate of open innovation and its application in conjunction with tech transfer efforts. I truly believe it is through the combining of diverse interests and capabilities that meaningful innovations are developed and important impacts can occur. So today I want to summarize what to me are the most important things to keep in mind as you consider open innovation partnerships in your tech transfer work. 
Fuentek president Laura Schoppe and I are putting the finishing touches on a new webinar that will provide technology transfer offices with specific solutions for securing open innovation-style collaborations and partnerships. It’s called Implementing Open Innovation: Symbiotic Success for Tech Transfer Offices (TTOs). We’ve blogged before about how Symbiotic Innovation is the notion that technology spin-out (commercializing technology) and spin-in (technology sourcing, collaborative R&D partnerships) are interdependent activities that are best pursued simultaneously. Every R&D organization has technologies or expertise that might meet the needs of external users (spin-out) as well as needs that might be solved by external technologies/expertise (spin-in). Spin-out asks, “Who needs what I have?” Spin-in asks, “Who has what I need?” Symbiotic Innovation recognizes that the “who” in both questions is the same. 
We at Fuentek have run across some interesting items that I think you’ll want to read. In fact, we’ve decided to turn this occasional post into a monthly feature on our blog. Happy reading, and let us know what you think by posting a comment below or by sending us a private message via our Contact Us page. 