Building a technology transfer office – starting out

Not all universities – or staff members – are convinced technology transfer is part of their remit. Here are some ideas on how to persuade them, writes Isis Innovation's Tom Hockaday, in the first of a two part series.

In Isis, we have identified four points that should be emphasised in the presentation to a university’s administration, management and faculty, when making the case for setting up a Technology Transfer Office (TTO).

These points are based upon our experience at Isis of working closely with university TTOs at all stages of development, in many different countries around the world.

In the Isis definition, the TTO is the part of the university that is responsible for commercialising university-owned intellectual property through the core activities of:

• attracting and assessing invention disclosures;

• patenting and other forms of intellectual property protection;

• licensing;

• setting up spin-out companies;

• sales of materials;

• managing seed funds.

The TTO may also be involved in helping researchers to sell their time as expert consultants.

It is important to note that TTO should be separate to the Research Office, which will typically support university researchers in identifying and winning research funding, and managing contractual relationships with research funders.  

Point 1. Convince people that Technology Transfer is a good thing

In general, there remains a level of doubt – and some resistance – to the idea that technology transfer is a legitimate part of the purpose of a university, sitting alongside the core activities of teaching and research.  

But the dissemination of new knowledge should be a key objective of any university – technology transfer uses commercial routes to achieve this. Indeed, when successful, technology transfer achieves a number of different objectives simultaneously:

• the transfer of new knowledge out of the university;

• providing the source of new innovative ideas for industry;

• providing opportunities for income generation by industry and the university;

• generating positive social and economic impact.

• It is important to emphasise directly to researchers in the university that technology transfer is a good thing for them personally, and for a number of reasons:

• the chance to use any income generated as discretionary research funding;

• the chance to see their science used for benefit of society;

• exposure to the intellectual challenge of turning laboratory scale research into products;

• increased awareness of interesting applied problems;

• the opportunity for personal wealth.

Point 2. Technology Transfer does not happen on its own

Technology transfer is not a spontaneous process; effort and resources must be invested to promote it. If there is limited resource and support infrastructure for technology transfer in the university, there may be some sporadic individual examples of it happening, but these will be unregulated and potentially risky.

The resources required are:

• People – dedicated staff in the TTO, who, over time, develop the skills and experience to transfer technology from the university out to industry.

• Patent budget – a dedicated budget available to a TTO to invest in the protection of inventions arising from the research base. The budget needs to be large enough to allow for the protection of inventions before they are marketed, and for sufficient time to learn whether or not there is commercial potential.

• Proof of Concept budget – in due course it is desirable for the TTO to have access to funds to bridge the gap between university research and move technologies closer to market. Proof of Concept funds are used to build prototypes, conduct market research, complete preclinical development of a drug, etc. Such developments shape technologies beyond the initial research stages enabling them to be presented to industry in a form that increases the likelihood that companies will recognise them as ideas they should pick up and invest in.

If researchers are left to manage their technology transfer activities themselves, they have less time available for their research, teaching and administrative activities

Point 3. There needs to be a policy framework for technology transfer

There are a number of areas in which a clear policy on technology transfer is required within the university. Rules and regulations must be unambiguously set out. These include:

• ownership of intellectual property generated by university staff and students;

• transfer of rights between university and researchers;

• revenue sharing arrangements;

• arrangements for formation of spin-out companies;

• identifying and managing conflicts of interest;

• dispute resolution framework.

There are three requirements for a successful policy framework:

• Setting down the rules;

• Providing resources to help;

• Sharing the proceeds.

Point 4. It takes a long time to demonstrate success in technology transfer

The outputs of university research are inevitably early-stage and rarely close to market. As a result, it can take many years for university projects to be incorporated into successful products and services.  

Two consequences stem from this: the sooner you start the better, so that the resources can develop and grow to a sufficient level to become self-standing; and having started it is essential to continue a programme for many years until the benefits can be understood and appreciated.  

Far too often technology transfer programmes are started, then stopped after a couple of years, and considered unsuccessful.  A two- or three-year government programme is highly unlikely to achieve sustainability.  If you plant a tree and pull it up to look at its roots every couple of years, it will never thrive.

Isis is the technology transfer office of Oxford University. It established its Isis Enterprise division to provide support to other universities and government agencies in developing technology transfer programmes and activities. Isis Enterprise has been highly successful in working with clients around the world in these areas. The insights above are drawn from this experience.