The following is a list of the articles that appear in the March 2010 issue of Technology Transfer Tactics monthly newsletter. If you are already a current subscriber click here to log in and access your issue. Not a subscriber already? Subscribe now and get access to this issue as well as access to our online archive of back issues, industry research reports, sample MTAs, legal opinions, sample forms and contracts, government documents and more!
Technology Transfer Tactics,
Vol. 4, No. 3 (pp 33-48) March 2010
- Stage-gate process provides rational structure for nurturing innovations. It is a common problem in technology transfer offices, where there’s always more technology to manage than managers to shepherd those technologies along. Some innovations get more scrutiny than others, and even those with obvious promise tend to amble down the field in an unpredictable fashion. Deals can get done in this kind of environment, but it’s hardly a blueprint for optimal productivity.
- Distributed partnering model eschews conventional start-up road to commercialization. The ongoing effort to build a better mousetrap for commercializing university IP has taken spawned a new concept its developers have dubbed “The Distributed Partnering Model.”
- Outsourcing gains favor as option for improving productivity, deal flow. Managing the growing volume of disclosures, patent filings, technology licenses, and spinoff activity is prompting some tech transfer managers to consider new tactics to handle more work without adding staff. Outsourcing is gaining interest as an option to shift service line responsibilities or IP portfolios to other entities, which may be located across the university or across the world.
- Contracting Clinic: Don’t assume concessions must be made for withheld indemnifications.
- Use interns, community resources, and teams to rev up your TTO. A familiar refrain among technology transfer personnel is that there are simply not enough hours in the day to work up technologies, reach out to potential licensees, and jump through all the hoops necessary to get deals done.