In October I was honored to moderate a session at AUTM’s Eastern Region Meeting in Raleigh, NC, delving into the wide range of initiatives that universities are undertaking to consider tech transfer activities in tenure and promotion reviews. Our panelists support the inclusion of commercialization activities in faculty advancement decisions and offered specific examples from their own experience for the field to consider moving forward.

As research universities are placing an increased emphasis on economic development, we agree that it’s entirely appropriate—even essential—that faculty advancement decisions include activities in tech transfer, innovation, and entrepreneurship, just as they include published research papers in these decisions. We are excited to delve into this topic at a session we’re moderating this fall at AUTM’s Eastern Region Meeting in Raleigh, NC.

What do Stanford, Univ. Alabama, Arizona State, and Univ. Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have in common? They’re all in non-metropolitan areas. And that’s the focus of the conference I presented at this week. Hosted by UIDP and the University of Arkansas, this university-industry engagement workshop brought together a diverse collection of higher education institutions from outside major metropolitan areas. These universities face common as well as unique challenges.

The next few days will see technology transfer professionals from across the United States and around the world travel to Austin, Texas, for the AUTM 2019 national meeting. Fuentek will be there, and today’s post gives you a sneak preview of the two sessions we’ll be leading. I’m also including links to more information if you want to do a little extra reading in advance. If you’ll be at the AUTM meeting, we hope you will join us at these sessions or swing by Booth #206.

The 2019 AUTM® meeting is coming up Feb. 10-13, and we are looking forward to it! The AUTM meeting provides TTOs with lots of opportunities to network with industry, investors, and research institutions. You can also learn about the latest developments in tech transfer and even advance your career. Having participated in the AUTM meeting for several years, I offer up these tips to help you get the most out of your time in Austin.

Summer is a great time of year to be in Minneapolis. (I used to row under that bridge!) And it’s particularly nice when I also get to participate in a session at the AUTM Central Region Meeting. The session—Ownership in the University Setting: Do You Own What You Think You Own?—will discuss the often complex intellectual property (IP) issues that occur in the university setting.

Every university technology licensing officer dreads that moment when a company has expressed interest in a piece of intellectual property (IP)… but doesn’t want to sign a license. Fuentek has found that industry-sponsored research can be a useful tool to get things “unstuck” in these situations. We moderated a session at the AUTM annual meeting that provided insights on this approach from two universities and a pharmaceutical company.

At a growing number of universities, technology transfer offices (TTOs) are being asked to educate students about protecting IP, evaluating a technology’s market potential, licensing, and so forth. Making classroom connections has several benefits for the TTO. Read about AUTM panelists’ efforts as well as university training offerings for current and future tech transfer professionals.

The Fuentek team is getting ready to head down to Florida for the 2017 meeting of the Association of University Technology Managers® (AUTM®). AUTM’s national meeting provides a great opportunity for technology transfer professionals to network with universities, industry, investors, and research institutions. It’s also an excellent way to learn about the latest advancements in tech transfer and even advance your career. Fuentek has long participated in the annual meeting, from moderating sessions to speaking and exhibiting. And this year is no exception. Here’s a sneak peek into our plans for this year.

Want to pack a room? Talk about gap funding at the Eastern Region Meeting (ERM) of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM®). Recently I had the pleasure of moderating the “Found in Translation: Making the Most of Gap Funding” session at AUTM-ERM with four panelists: Richard Chylla of Michigan State University, Corine Farewell of the University of Vermont (UVM), Marc Sedam of the University of New Hampshire, and Todd Sherer of Emory University. In sharing their experience and insights, these panelists represented a diversity of perspectives…