Fuentek’s Tech Transfer Blog
Fuentek’s technology transfer experts share their insights
about IP management, technology marketing, TTO operations,
strategic planning, best practices, and more.
about IP management, technology marketing, TTO operations,
strategic planning, best practices, and more.
Universities and government labs — especially in the United States — are keen to transfer technologies into commercial ventures. It can be tough, but not impossible, for corporates to engage with those organizations and find those innovations. I wrote an article for Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine, entitled “Cutting-Edge Tech: A How-To Guide for Corporate Licensing Officers.”…
When it comes to invention disclosures, a TTO’s overarching goal is to ensure that any and all commercially viable inventions discovered within the R&D labs are disclosed to the TTO. In order to successfully achieve that long-term goal, the TTO must ensure that researchers (1) recognize their obligations relating to intellectual property (IP), (2) are aware of the existence of your office and how to work with you, and (3) understand (in general) the process and benefits of commercialization. To achieve these three sub-goals, new TTOs especially must do…
I wish to offer an answer to the RFI’s third Overarching Question: What specific actions can the Federal Government take to build and sustain U.S. strengths including its entrepreneurial culture, flexible labor markets, world-class research universities, strong regional innovation ecosystems, and large share of global venture capital investment? My answer: …
Any individual tech transfer success requires a long lead time. Yet, stakeholders want to see progress NOW! I know how frustrating that can be, yet they deserve to know how you’re doing. And you need to know how you’re doing. But this is challenging when the TTO is brand new or so newly reorganized that the full impact of your work can’t be known. So I’m going to offer up three general areas on which to focus early in the life of your TTO. Tracking metrics in these three areas will help put a new office on the right path to increase the probability of long-term success. The three areas to track are…
Recently I had the pleasure of being interviewed by JJ DiGeronimo of the organization Advancing Women in STEM about my career trajectory, my leap into technology transfer, and what motivated me to start Fuentek in 2001. I was also asked for my advice for women who are newly hired for — or trying to get — a job in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). I was able to share a few ideas during the interview, but today I’d like to elaborate on that list. Actually, this advice applies to women going into non-STEM professions too.
Although we tend to focus on technology transfer here on the Fuentek blog, our industry is broader than that. One aspect I was asked about recently is knowledge transfer. Specifically, I was asked: Can you suggest a tool to measure/assess quantity and quality of knowledge transfer? This is a complex question since knowledge transfer is more qualitative than quantitative, but metrics gathering is an inherently quantitative exercise. However, there are some quantitative measures that provide a sense of knowledge transfer.
Welcome to the latest post in our “Metrics Monday” series. Today, I’m going to talk about some important metrics that most TTOs don’t track… but should. Why these metrics? Because these three metrics indicate whether your TTO is on the right path to achieving higher targets for your university’s government funding and industry sponsored research agreements (SRAs). And these targets will have a much bigger impact on the local economy than most startups will because they lead to hiring more staff that are high-salary jobs.
Several months ago, a read an article called “Are Universities Creating Too Many Biotech Startups?” At the time I thought: The question is not how many startups should a university do, but why are they doing them? Since then, I’ve seen more and more stories in the industry news about universities focusing heavily on startups, particularly within the context of job creation and helping the local economy. …
On Monday, President Obama signed bipartisan legislation to increase the federal focus on the harmful algal blooms plaguing the Great Lakes and U.S. ocean waters. But progress in understanding HABs is already underway, thanks to an ongoing collaboration between two federal agencies. Researchers from NASA and NOAA have been working together to improve monitoring of HABs, which pose significant threats to humans and wildlife as they form, spread, and disappear.
What’s a reasonable royalty rate when licensing a technology? Good question! Those of you with years of experience negotiating licensing or other technology transfer agreements know that there are many approaches for determining the value of a potential deal and therefore what the royalty rate should be. Which method is best? When we provide deal-making support to our clients, Fuentek uses a combination of three deal valuation techniques: market assessments, cost assessments, and income evaluations. Let’s consider each element.
