INSIDE RESEARCH

Opportunity for Innovation

 

UTA Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Development

UTA embarks on bold approach to technology transfer

By Paul J. Corson, Director, UTA Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Development

University technology transfer offices typically evaluate, protect, and commercialize faculty research. When licensed and successfully brought to market by companies, faculty inventions benefit society and generate financial rewards for the researchers and their universities.

According to a 2021 report by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, academic patents contributed up to $1.9 trillion to the U.S. economy between 1996-2020. Self-reported university data to AUTM for that same period indicates that research universities generated more than 126,000 issued patents and supported the formation of more than 17,000 startups.

So why, then, are

  • technology transfer offices criticized as black holes and difficult to work with;
  • investors hesitant to invest in faculty-led startups; and
  • most university inventions viewed as dying on the vine or left abandoned on the shelf?

The U.S. Patent and Trade Office awarded 352,000 utility patents in 2020 alone—50% more than universities generated in the previous 25 years combined. In fact, of the patents issued to U.S. entities in 2020, only 4% were awarded to universities.

University faculty and researchers typically invent without considering market-based factors. Licensing officers often get involved only after receiving an invention disclosure. They decide on and direct patent prosecution, determine and evaluate market applications, and search for a licensee. This approach to technology transfer is linear, reactionary, and transactional. And it has generated largely intermittent, unpredictable, and frustratingly modest results, with infrequent home runs.

Innovation Management (IM) as practiced by UTA’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Development represents a new approach. We start by engaging faculty and researchers to learn their motivations and aspirations. There should always be basic research, but for those interested in their work generating near-term social benefit, IM considers the opportunities available for innovation.

We engage entrepreneurs, industry professionals, and investors to learn about markets, supply chains, comparative and competitive landscapes, and pain and pressure points. Our demand-side focus identifies industry needs and wants, entrepreneur interests and abilities, and investor priorities and expectations.

With internal and external relationships based on mutual respect, trust, and an appreciation that none of us succeeds without each other, we also determine how far research needs to advance before it can be licensed—such as providing advanced data or executing a demonstration project. In partnership with faculty and researchers, we focus on the people, funds, and equipment required to advance the research along a milestone-based pathway.

All the while, we proactively maintain external entrepreneur, industry, and investor relationships—our customer relationships—so that when it is time to execute a license, we do so as a trusted partner.

IM = OD x CP: Innovation Management is Opportunity Development advanced along Commercialization Pathways—an innovative way to generate impact and drive regional prosperity at UTA.

 

Inquiry Magazine 2024

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