TTO Role in University / Corporate Partnership

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TTO Role in University / Corporate Partnership
Steve Bauer Director RERC on Technology Transfer
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Acknowledgement
This is a presentation of the Rehabilitation
Engineering Research Center on Technology
Transfer, which is funded by the National
Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation
Research of the Department of Education under
grant number H133E9800025. The opinions
contained in this publication are those of the
grantee and do not necessarily reflect those of
the U.S Department of Education.
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Discussion

• Generic U. TTO
• Academic (Supply Side)
• Industry (Demand Side)
• Case Disability Products

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Generic U. Tech Transfer Office

• What do they care about?
• Revenue
• License, options income supports TTO
• Sole focus on commercialization
• Home runs
• Health sciences
• Control Intellectual Property
• Access to faculty expertise, research
  infrastructure
• What dont they care about?
• Patents, research funding, corporate funding

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Generic U. Tech Transfer Office

• What they do
• Manage technology portfolios
• What they dont do
• Cast broad nets for technology disclosures
• Successful U. TTO doesnt either

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Academicians (Supply Side)

• What (can) they provide?
• Technology disclosures
• Knowledge of market, technology, industry
• Market research
• Primary lead on licensing opportunities
• Expertise
• Necessary to license early stage research

All the Raw Materials. Key to TTO Efficiency
and Effectiveness.
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Academicians (Supply Side)

• What do they care about?
• Efficient, effective, visible, helpful TTO
• Revenue
• Patents
• Academic prestige for commercial activity
• Research funding
• Corporate research

Entrepreneurial Culture , Prestige, Opportunity
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Business (Demand Side)

• What do they care about?
• Efficient, effective, visible, helpful TTO
• Technology
• Business culture
• Corporate research
• Efficient (predictable) handling of new IP
• Easy (predictable) access to expertise
• Easy (predictable) access to research
  infrastructure
• Easy (predictable) access to cheap labor

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Business (Demand Side)

• Non-IP Research
• Market research
• Customer needs
• Design requirements
• Prototype / software development
• Prototype / software testing
• Design validation
• Clinical trials
• Collaborative grant development (SBIR, STTR)

T2RERC Fortune 500 Project Supply Push
Project Demand Pull Project
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Where They Meet

• Business Culture
• Corporate lead
• Roles
• Deliverables
• Timeline
• New intellectual property
• Product development cycles
• Communication
• Accountability

Important training at Successful U.
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Where They Meet

• Technology licensing,
• Corporate Research, Research
• Non-IP Research, Research
• Entrepreneurial Culture

Generic U.

Successful U.
Academicians who work regularly with
manufacturers in an entrepreneurial culture are
much more likely to make technology disclosures.
(Owen-Smith, 2001)
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Federal vs. Corporate Research
University Research Licenses from
Federal Corporate Federal Corporate
149.0B 16.9B 67 19
8.9 1 (9.6 1 for 2004) 3.5 1
Based on a Five Year Study (Thursby, 2001)
Corporate research should be a key indicator of
TTO effectiveness.
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Disability Whats the Problem?

• Generic U. TTO
• Unfamiliar technologies
• Preconceptions
• Low tech, simple, uninteresting
• Unfamiliar markets
• Small trans-generational
• Unfamiliar industries
• Small eyeglasses
• No , no effort

Generic U. TTO is the problem.
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Conclusion

• Successful U. TTO
• Broker and facilitator, not central figure
• Focus on customer needs
• 1 Business
• 2 Academicians
• Efficient, effective, visible, helpful
• Entrepreneurial culture
• Business culture
• Corporate as metric
• Singles, doubles mow the grass

They dont need you!
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Thank You!

• Steve Bauer
• smbauer_at_buffalo.edu
• 716-829-3141 x 117

T2RERC Public Policy Project is examining
university licensing that benefits people with
and aging into disability.
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Selected References

• AUTM U.S. Licensing Survey FY 2004
• Bauer S.M., Lane J.P. "Convergence of Assistive
  Devices and Mainstream Products Keys to
  University Participation in Research, Development
  Commercialization, Technology and Disability,
  Vol. 18, No. 1, 2006 (in press)
• Bauer S.M., Demand Pull Technology Transfer,
  The Journal of Technology Transfer, Vol. 28, Nos.
  3/4, August 2003, pp 285-303
• Owen-Smith J., Powell W.W., To Patent or Not
  Faculty Decisions and Institutional Success in
  Technology Transfer, The Journal of Technology
  Transfer, Vol. 26, No. 1/2, January 2001, pp
  99-114
• Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on
  Technology Transfer, URL http//cosmos.buffalo.ed
  u/t2rerc
• Technology Assessment of the U.S. Assistive
  Technology Industry, U.S. Department of Commerce
  Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of
  Strategic Industries and Economic Security
  Strategic Analysis Division, February 2003
• Thursby J.G., Thursby M.C., Characteristics and
  Outcomes of University Licensing A Survey of
  Major U.S. Universities, The Journal of
  Technology Transfer, Vol. 26, No. 1/2, January
  2001, pp 59-72