There have been a lot of articles recently about universities giving away IP rights for free. The specifics of each vary, and most seem to have advantages that will help accelerate the transfer of technology. But some go further than others.

AUTM’s Global Technology Portal is an exciting new tool that showcases academic technologies available for licensing. It will help facilitate license agreements, collaborative research agreements, and partnership or investment arrangements for university startups.

What’s the best way to get federally funded technologies out of university and federal labs and into the market? This is the big question of late, and it’s generating a lot of hubbub. Regardless of the merits of all of the initiatives, directives, and legislation, I think a key aspect is being overlooked. As any technology transfer office (TTO) can tell you, not every technology emerging from federal R&D spending will be the next Honeycrisp™ apple, implantable pacemaker, or Red Hat, Inc. But some do have the potential to launch new companies, improve or expand the product/service offerings of existing companies, create jobs, or otherwise positively impact the U.S. economy and/or provide humanitarian benefits. The question is: Which technologies? And, more importantly, how do TTOs find them and commercialize them efficiently?

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.

Earlier this week I participated in the Raleigh Innovation Summit, which was held to create a unified vision for the city’s future in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship. Groups discussed creating an innovation center in Raleigh, branding Raleigh as a city of innovation, creating partnerships, and bringing more money to the region. A lot of great ideas were generated, and participants have been encouraged to keep sharing them. So in addition to what you’ll see in tweets (#innovateRAL), here are some of my ideas:

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.

In working on technology assessments, it’s important to consider the most critical factors in order to efficiently determine the commercialization potential of your technology. After you’ve done all of your market-based assessment research, you should have a pretty good gut feeling about the commercialization potential of the technology. So to verify that your gut is right, we find that it’s often sufficient to evaluate just a few key factors in your final analysis rather than get mired down in a lengthy list.

Has your tech transfer office set some resolutions for 2012? I’ve been doing some thinking about that, particularly in the context of the political landscape of late that TTOs must navigate. It’s certainly not news that in the last few years politics has been wagging the dog when it comes to tech transfer. And 2011 was no exception. For example, there was a big push toward using tech transfer to generate economic development and startups. But well-intentioned policies are not always aligned with what really brings value to technology communities, not to mention the universities and government labs where the technologies originate.

A conversation on one of the AUTM® discussion groups a bit ago 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. He also 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. And part of the goal was to improve relations and build credibility with faculty.

As we head back to work, still full of gratitude (and mashed potatoes!) from the gatherings of the holiday, I find I have another reason to be thankful: I’ve been selected among hundreds of candidates to be featured on the 2012 Woman’s Advantage Shared Wisdom Calendar. The calendar features daily advice from successful women business owners across the United States and Canada on topics such as strategy, team building, marketing, and finance. As a female owner of a small business, I am quite passionate about…