Welp, AUTM 2020 was canceled. We’re disappointed, but we get it. And we decided to go ahead and run our AUTM show special, which you can check out here.
If you’re feeling down about not getting to travel to San Diego and geek out on tech transfer (we’re pretty down, not going to lie), today’s blog will help.
We recently spoke with an amazing group of experts about the tech transfer field—where it’s been, where it’s headed and what professionals can do to prepare and thrive.
- Megan Lyman, General Counsel, General Counsel & Operations at Oerth Bio
- Ken Porter, Director, UM Ventures, University of Maryland College Park
- Saara Inkinen, D.Sc., Innovation Management & Technology Transfer Consultant, Founder, Nordic Catalyst
- Tom O’Neal, Associate Vice President of Research & Commercialization, Executive Director of the UCF Business Incubation Program (UCFBIP) and the Florida Economic Gardening Institute (FEGI), University of Central Florida.
Here’s what these experts say are the most important trends and/or events that occurred in the tech transfer field in the 2010s:
- Megan: Over the last decade, tech transfer has seen a dynamic shift, which has been great for small businesses and entrepreneurs. It’s the opening up of tech transfer and making technologies more accessible and available, enabling people to talk about new ideas, create new corporate entities, as well as create more opportunity for post-docs and universities to advance their technology and scientific ideas. We’ve seen a transformation across TTOs relative to ten years ago.
- Ken: The most exciting thing in tech transfer happened in November 2019, when our professional organization, AUTM, won a $16M contract to support the FLC, the Federal Laboratory Consortium—that was fantastic. AUTM members represent $40B of research expenditures and federal laboratories represent another $50B, so that pretty much doubles our research base and presents many exciting opportunities for IP, licensing, and entrepreneurship.
- Saara: The digital transformation. The commercialization of such new technologies requires thorough understanding of not only the innovations themselves, but also of the newly formed market and IP landscape. Digitalization is also transforming the tech transfer field itself. The digital technology transfer environment includes new ways to handle data and IP, as well as more efficient channels and platforms to manage collaborations and interactions with various stakeholders.
- Tom: Probably that TTOs aren’t just a licensing office anymore. Tech transfer is a whole bunch of stuff; there’s a whole ecosystem in place to make it happen. We reward people differently than we used to for tech transfer activities. Universities have startups, makerspaces, incubators, accelerators—tech transfer is very prevalent now.
The BCC library was designed for the needs of tech transfer professionals. Take advantage of our AUTM special now.
