What is the Main Function of a Technology Transfer Office with Respect to Collaborative Research?
Technology transfer offices(TTOs) facilitate collaborative research between academia and industry, or, in other words, they act as intermediaries between academic researchers and business. But what exactly is the main function of a technology transfer office with respect to collaborative research? This article explores the role of technology transfer offices in facilitating collaborative research between academics and businesses.
Blog List:
1. What is the main function of a technology transfer office with respect to collaborative research?
2. How can technology transfer offices facilitate collaborative research between academia and industry?
3. What are the benefits of involving a technology transfer officer in collaborative research?
4. Why do many universities have their own technology transfer offices?
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1. What is the main function of a technology transfer office with respect to collaborative research?
Technology transfer is the process of taking research results and discoveries and applying them to improve daily life. A technology transfer office helps scientists to take their discoveries and inventions and make them available to the public. Technology transfer offices can help scientists patent their discoveries and inventions and get them into the hands of the people who are willing to use them.
As we discussed, a market for scientific and technological advancements is mostly theoretical, because most innovations are independently created. The main goal of technology transfer offices is to bridge the gap between research projects, products, and patents. The main role of the technology transfer office is to facilitate the process of peer-reviewed, and publicly accessible scientific and technological advances.
To facilitate the collaboration between the academic researcher and the business enterprise, practical applications must be developed. A common paradigm implemented among most technology transfer offices is to name the respective academic research the recipient corporation; i.e.,
The most common examples of technology transfer systems are:
Publication of Research Results (PARK): The receiver corporation publishes the research results in its magazine; both the article and the magazine are classified as “open access” and published to the audience that is not affected by the protection of intellectual property. A copy of the article (and the magazine) is available for free to all researchers and scientists; thus, no commercial uses are possible. The receiver corporation monetizes its research results by charging a fee to the university that funded the research project.
Distribution of Protected Intellectual Property (DMO-PI). The receiver corporation obtains a license to the patented inventions), which means that it retains the exclusive right to freely exploit the scientific, technical, industrial, and commercial aspects of the patented invention up to the date of transfer. However, the receiver corporation must compensate the inventor for his/her investment in the intellectual property used for the technology transfer project.
2. How can technology transfer offices facilitate collaborative research between academia and industry?
Technology transfer offices can help facilitate collaborative research between academia and industry. They can help ensure that research being conducted at the university is easily translatable to the commercial world. Technology transfer offices can help make sure that research being conducted at the university is easily translatable to the commercial world.
Both Europe and the US have their own versions of the TTO, and they provide intermediary agencies between businesses and in-services research. The services provided by (Technological transfer offices)TTOs can range from consultancy to wire-framing and combinational research. TTOs can also connect researchers with industry experts by acting as drop-shipping specialists.
Technological transfer offices(TTOs) are not new. In fact, these offices have existed since the 1950s, when the transfer of technology was still in the academic arena. The first TTO was established at the University of Cambridge, and the first academic-industry agreement was signed in 1965. The TTO(Technology Transfer Office) model has received further development and has become more and more international.
In the UK, 45 of the country’s leading scientific and technological institutes and universities have their own TTOs.
TTOs facilitate cross-pollination of expertise. Since the TTO is considered fundamental for the transfer of technological knowledge, it can provide an efficient channel to collaborate with industry.
TTOs facilitate the careful analysis of proposed research. They look at the necessary technological angle and determine if it bears a relationship to commercially viable projects. Most importantly, TTOs ensure that there exists a mutually beneficial relationship between the academic researcher and the commercial user.
For instance, during the internet boom of the late 1990s, the ITAR Institute (UK) and the ISE del Medio (US) created the Internet Technology Transfer Database. The database acts as a central location for the transfer of technological knowledge, offering research networks and centers for international link-ups.
A broad range of TTOs exist. Some are based at universities. Others are in the business and IT industries, and some are international.
3. What are the benefits of involving a technology transfer officer in collaborative research?
Technology transfer officers are responsible for overseeing the licensing of university research to industry. Technology transfer officers work with faculty, staff, students, and the public to develop patentable technologies, find commercial applications for them, and create appropriate licensing agreements with industry partners.To finance these efforts, an important role is played by industry sponsorship, a practice that continuously evolves.
The final product that is created by universities and industry collaborations is a licensed technology that can be used in patented products (sometimes jointly with local companies) and in industry products.
Technological progress relies on transferring intellectual property developed in academic research to industry. This progress is normally marked by the creation of new resource papers that are scientific research papers.
Technological progress does not depend on intellectual property being owned by Universities and Patent Office (IPO) only because industry researchers can easily come to the procurement of academic scientific papers.
However, the transfer of intellectual property to industry is always a double-edged sword. Transferring intellectual property to industry also makes industry competitors stronger. Type A behavior is basically the same as being in the “crowd.”
University researchers generally want to collaborate with industry researchers. So transferring research existing in universities to industry research can improve the chances that research papers that are published in academic journals will lead to direct commercial product applications.
Faculty and Staff Members Extract Technology
Faculty members and staff members extract or create additional scientific research papers and resources, and, with the assistance of industry, it is only a matter of time until commercialization of Stanford's research productivity papers is realized.
However, the transfer of intellectual property from Universities to Industry (or vice versa) is also negatively impacting the quality of industry research papers and resources. The same outcome and impact can be observed when transferring technology from Business to Universities.
4. Why do many universities have their own technology transfer offices?
To be honest, I have no idea. But I have a feeling it’s because the university wants to take advantage of the people who are good at researching and developing new technology, and then the university will take the technology, patent it, and then make money off it.
For an SEO employee, it’s not the SEO person’s fault that I’ve heard “technology transfer office” thrown around so much; I mean, in the SEO industry, there is constant discussion of how technically proficient our clients are, as well as constantly trying to work out what content is going to be the next best step towards becoming a competitor to how your client currently operates. I’ve heard “technical SEO” being thrown around in pretty much every conversation I’ve had with a client who doesn’t understand the benefits this type of work could bring to their SEO, but I think it’s only recently that we’ve begun to term these “transfer offices” for what they actually entail.
So who are they? Well, it’s a fairly well-defined role; it involves signing a contract whereby the university agrees to transfer an intellectual property, usually with a royalty, to the individual (although that royalty can be structured in various ways, such as per annum), for a fee. However, in the ideal situation, the university won’t end up with any money; ultimately, it’s the individual who ends up benefitting from any royalties.
The Technological Transfer Office typically acts as an intermediary between the academics, who then pass intellectual property on to the industry, and the business/company that are interested in exploiting the technology. There are lots of different roles and functions involved in setting up a transfer office; I’ll dig into some of them later in the article.
For an in-depth look at the role of technology transfer offices in collaborative research, we have recently published an eBook on the subject: “Doing Collaborative Research with a Digital Domain”.
Conclusion: Technology transfer officers are important for facilitating collaboration between academic researchers and business, because they communicate the intellectual property rights that academics have to their discoveries, which can then be protected through patents or licenses.
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