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.
Today’s “Worth Reading” post runs the gamut from traditional print journalism to online blogging and to a tweet chat on technology transfer trends. Here are my thoughts about it…
I’m heading back to the Dorton Arena in Raleigh as a judge for the 5th annual NC FIRST Robotics Regional Competition. If you’re local, come see for yourself what these amazing high school students have built in only 6 weeks! If you’re not, check out the live webcast Friday and Saturday via the Yeti team’s (#3506) channel. The qualification matches are Friday from 9:00am to noon and 1:00pm to 5:45pm as well as on Saturday from 9:00am to noon. The final rounds are from 1:30pm to 4:30pm on Saturday.
One of the first posts we had on our blog talked about best practices for a technology commercialization website. I am proud to announce the release of a new paper on how to build an effective website for your technology transfer office (TTO), written …
Lydia Bailey of Online Paralegal Degree Center recently sent me an infographic to share with our blog readers. It was called “What Every Website Owner Should Know about Copyright Trolls.” It was definitely worth sharing, plus it reminded me of something that happened with a client. The infographic begins with a brief overview of what copyright is and how you can (and can’t) use someone else’s copyrighted works. Then it goes on to explain what copyright trolls do, how they do it, and how to fight them. In addition to the valuable information it provides, this infographic also touches on a pet peeve of mine — not so much the trolls, but those who infringe on copyrighted works.
Last week I was invited to participate on a panel at the 2014 AUTM® national meeting. The focus: How university technology transfer offices (TTOs) are shifting their view of intellectual property (IP) terms when securing R&D funding through sponsored research agreements (SRAs). My fellow panelists and I discussed the current models at various universities. Here’s an overview.
It’s great to be in San Francisco for the 2014 AUTM national meeting. Today was our first full day here, and it’s been busy! The meeting is definitely off to a great start! I spent a good bit of today at the Fuentek booth (#207). I haven’t seen formal registration numbers, but the traffic at our booth suggests there is solid representation from all over the world. Becky Stoughton and I met a number of attendees from Europe, South America, Asia, and the Middle East. Many of our conversations with those from outside the U.S. were about starting technology transfer offices (TTOs) or effective strategies for growing a nascent TTO.
Understanding how prospects perceive value will help you gauge their true interest in a potential licensing deal. Just because you’ve designed a cool widget doesn’t mean somebody out there is willing to invest in commercializing it. Potential licensees will be interested only if the technology delivers meaningful value for their company. For the best results, licensing managers should be able to identify the key factors that influence prospects’ decision-making processes — a good bit of which is already on hand if a market-based assessment of the technology was conducted. There’s no substitute for being prepared as you head into negotiations. I explain further in our new “Why Prepare for Licensing Negotiations” webcast, which also includes tips for the kind of research you should conduct in advance. (The webcast is free — all you have to do is register.)
In my last post, I offered recommendations for connecting with potential partners while you’re at the national meeting for AUTM®. Today I’m sharing more general advice for having a productive experience at the conference. I know it’s hard to make time for these things when you’re frantic preparing to be away from the office for several days and trying to clear the decks. But a little time invested up front will be well worth it. Learn about your learning opportunities: Do you need to get better informed about a specific aspect of technology commercialization? Check out the advance meeting program to get the lay of the land, identifying sessions and events that are of particular interest to you. If you’re a paper person, print pages
Thanks to the proactive efforts by AUTM® the past few years, the national meeting will have significant industry representation, including key new participants from outside the life sciences such as Samsung and Raytheon. This provides an ideal opportunity for university technology transfer offices (TTOs) and high-tech companies to lay the groundwork for establishing mutually beneficial collaborations and licenses. To make the most of your time at the AUTM meeting, I recommend taking these six actions right away.
Following up on last week’s Worth Reading post, I’d like to offer this postscript for those of you going the AUTM® 2014 meeting in a couple of weeks. These two items will help you with your networking and prepare you for our panel on incentivizing researcher participation in technology transfer. BTW, have you taken our 5-minute survey yet? Do it now! First off, we have The Innovative and Entrepreneurial University. Released in November, this report from the U.S. Commerce Department and the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE) presents “the increasingly diverse ways in which colleges and universities across America are promoting cultures of entrepreneurship on campus and encouraging students to start companies.”…
