There’s a trend that seems to be on the rise around the world, and it’s worth thinking about where you live. It has to do with the centralizing or consolidating of technology transfer functions across universities.
We’ve explored the topic of TTO centralization on this blog before, and we have a free white paper with best practices on centralizing/consolidating TTOs. But the impressive thing about what’s happening lately is the extent to which the coordination is happening across institutions. Continue reading →
This month’s list of articles worth reading centers around the topic of entrepreneurship. In some cases, these are technology transfer offices (TTOs) fostering entrepreneurs. In some cases, TTOs are tapping into the expertise of entrepreneurs. And in some cases, the TTOs are being pretty entrepreneurial themselves! So let’s see what we’ve got. 
We at Fuentek have blogged often about how tweets, blogs, and “likes” are key paths by which a technology transfer office’s (TTO’s) messages reaches the general public as well as about how effective use of social media can connect TTOs with licensing prospects and potential partners for specific opportunities. But federal TTOs face unique challenges in developing and maintaining effective social media strategies. Aside from tight budgets and overloaded staff, these TTOs have to operate within the confines of the highly controlled federal government. TTOs want to get the word out about what they do but, in most cases, a public affairs or communications office is responsible for the information flowing out of a federal organization. So what’s a federal TTO to do? 
I’m pleased to bring you this month’s list of articles that we at Fuentek feel are worth reading. Many of these are pretty new, while some are oldies but goodies. Several of the pieces hovered around a similar theme, resulting in a slightly longer list despite the shorter month. Good thing we have leap day this year! 
There’s been a lot of discussion among universities and others about the inclusion of the “free agency” concept in Section 7 of the Moran–Warner Startup Act. This is the idea proposed by the Kauffman Foundation to allow professors to choose their own agents to help transfer their technology rather than be tied to their home university’s technology transfer office (TTO). This post is not about the merits of the idea. I’m writing this post to point out some key questions that need to be answered for such a plan to be realistically implemented. 
A recent conversation on one of the AUTM® discussion groups focused on formalizing a technology transfer office’s (TTO’s) triage process. The director initiating the discussion was contemplating using interns for technology triage because his resources are limited and he wanted his licensing project managers to remain focused on getting deals executed. Overall his plan was to start providing feedback on inventions in a standardized format and within a certain timeframe as a way to improve relations and build credibility with faculty. All of this sent me down memory lane!… 
Last week I gave a presentation at a tech transfer workshop for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). This workshop was well timed, given President Obama’s recent memorandum announcing a new directive requiring all federal research labs to bolster and streamline technology transfer efforts to increase the likelihood and efficiency of getting research results to market. Attendees at the DoD meeting discussed the memo as well as possible solutions, as each agency has been tasked with presenting a plan back to the President on how they will achieve his goals. Possible solutions have been at the top of my mind recently as well…. 
An article on Huffingtonpost.com’s Tech section about university technology transfer offices (TTOs) recently caught my attention, and I’d like to take a moment to respond to it. 