Finding the right partner — whether for research funding, start-up creation and investment, licensing technology, or industry engagement — is a skill set that encompasses sales, marketing, science, art, and a whole lot of organizational proficiency.

Each contact is a valuable part of building your network, and every encounter has the potential to become a success story. But fostering these relationships is only one part of the picture. To build and maintain an effective network you’ll need to keep track of who’s who: What technologies they are interested in, who gravitates to early-stage inventions and who invests only in revenue generating companies, their interest by technology sectors, which contacts are regional vs national or global in scope, what previous communications have occurred and what are the next steps. It’s a lot of work to keep it all organized, but it pays off when you finally find “the one” and a deal is signed.

That’s why we’ve secured a panel of presenters to help you become an expert IP matchmaker. TOMORROW, March 22nd, join Erika Warner of Tangible IP and Joe Runge of UNeMed for IP Matchmaking Strategies: Building and Curating a Solid Network to Increase Deal Flow. They’ll each reveal their unique strategies for gaining and holding the attention of potential future stakeholders, keeping their contacts and networks organized, and closing the deals when the time comes. For complete details or to register, click here.

Also coming soon:

• Technology Transfer Marketing and Branding Roundtable| Wednesday, March 29, 2023
• The Biggest Surprises in Cross-Border Patent and IP Transactions| Wednesday, April 19, 2023
• Trends in University Data Ownership, Licensing & Monetization| Thursday, April 27, 2023

In a perfect world, the metrics used to gauge the performance of tech transfer and industry engagement offices would clearly identify areas of strength and improvement while also pinpointing weak spots needing extra attention. The data would provide a meaningful assessment of both how you’re doing and how to get better, and also offer a fair report card on your team’s effectiveness in achieving a set of well-defined goals.

But that perfect world is often not the reality for many offices, whose metrics may seem less than meaningful and less than fair. Are strictly financial metrics an accurate reflection of your office’s broader contribution to the university? Is goal setting and achievement really within your control? Are data normalized so your results and judged against true peers? While disclosures, licenses, start-ups, partnerships, and research dollars will always factor in, what other metrics can give a fuller picture of activity and impact?

To help you assess and refine your performance measurement and metrics, we’ve produced Employing Metrics in Technology Transfer and University-Industry Engagement, a three-session collection of distance learning programs filled with expert guidance on how to improve the way your office’s activity and results are tracked, analyzed, and judged.

For complete program and faculty details or to order, click here.

Finding the right partner — whether for research funding, start-up creation and investment, licensing technology, or industry engagement — is a skill set that encompasses sales, marketing, science, art, and a whole lot of organizational proficiency.

Each contact is a valuable part of building your network, and every encounter has the potential to become a success story. But fostering these relationships is only one part of the picture. To build and maintain an effective network you’ll need to keep track of who’s who: What technologies they are interested in, who gravitates to early-stage inventions and who invests only in revenue generating companies, their interest by technology sectors, which contacts are regional vs national or global in scope, what previous communications have occurred and what are the next steps. It’s a lot of work to keep it all organized, but it pays off when you finally find “the one” and a deal is signed.

That’s why we’ve secured a panel of presenters to help you become an expert IP matchmaker. On March 22nd, join Erika Warner of Tangible IP and Joe Runge of UNeMed for IP Matchmaking Strategies: Building and Curating a Solid Network to Increase Deal Flow. They’ll each reveal their unique strategies for gaining and holding the attention of potential future stakeholders, keeping their contacts and networks organized, and closing the deals when the time comes. For complete details or to register, click here.

Also coming soon:

• Technology Transfer Marketing and Branding Roundtable | Wednesday, March 29, 2023
• The Biggest Surprises in Cross-Border Patent and IP Transactions | Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Landing an industry research partnership is no easy task and can take years to complete, but in many cases the “last mile” — when contracts are negotiated and drafted — is the toughest. It’s also the point at which the long-term value you hope to create with your corporate partner can either be cemented or put in jeopardy. The terms you agree on can set the stage for an incredibly productive and long-lasting relationship, but without proper alignment and careful drafting they can also set the deal up for confusion, conflict and failure.

That’s why we’ve created Drafting and Negotiating Industry-Sponsored Research Agreements, a four-program distance learning collection that’s filled with best practices, expert guidance, and key strategies that will ensure your industry partnership agreements are built to last.

These programs cover some of the most critical and trickiest issues you’ll face, including master research agreements, IP rights, preferential rights, and conflicts of interest – four outstanding sessions that you can share with staff and keep for future education and training. Here’s what’s included:

• Session 1: Drafting and Negotiating Master Research Agreements
• Session 2: Drafting and Negotiating IP Rights in Sponsored Research Agreements
• Session 3: Drafting and Negotiating Preferential Rights in University IP Licenses and Sponsored Research Agreements
• Session 4: Preserving Sponsored Research Integrity: Fortifying Contractual Language and University Policy to Prevent Bias and COI

For complete details on the collection, click here.

Finding the right partner — whether for research funding, start-up creation and investment, licensing technology, or industry engagement — is a skill set that encompasses sales, marketing, science, art, and a whole lot of organizational proficiency.

Each contact is a valuable part of building your network, and every encounter has the potential to become a success story. But fostering these relationships is only one part of the picture. To build and maintain an effective network you’ll need to keep track of who’s who: What technologies they are interested in, who gravitates to early-stage inventions and who invests only in revenue generating companies, their interest by technology sectors, which contacts are regional vs national or global in scope, what previous communications have occurred and what are the next steps. It’s a lot of work to keep it all organized, but it pays off when you finally find “the one” and a deal is signed.

That’s why we’ve secured a panel of presenters to help you become an expert IP matchmaker. On March 22nd, join Erika Warner of Tangible IP and Joe Runge of UNeMed for IP Matchmaking Strategies: Building and Curating a Solid Network to Increase Deal Flow. They’ll each reveal their unique strategies for gaining and holding the attention of potential future stakeholders, keeping their contacts and networks organized, and closing the deals when the time comes. For complete details or to register, click here.

Also coming soon:

• Trade Secret Protection, Management and Licensing: What TTOs Need To Know | Friday, March 10, 2023
• Forging Successful Industry Collaborations: A Stony Brook University Case Study | Tuesday, March 14, 2023
• Technology Transfer Marketing and Branding Roundtable | Wednesday, March 29, 2023

If you work in a TTO or industry engagement office these days, the terms “partnership” and “collaboration” are a big part of your workplace vocabulary — and a big part of your job. In the increasingly partnership-driven ecosystem, discussions with industry-related entities are more often than not geared toward complex long-term collaborations that rely on solid relationships with faculty, whether in industry-sponsored research, licensing, or even in nurturing faculty start-ups.

The most fruitful partnerships are multi-dimensional and can combine research funding, licensing revenue, and critical economic development benefits for your local region, so it’s worth learning about how these collaborations develop and what makes them work most effectively. Stony Brook University has built highly prized partnerships with two companies that started in the university’s own labs: Traverse Biosciences Inc. and MicroRid. Each company’s leadership teams, along with representatives from SBU, will share their story, their lessons learned, and their keys to long-term collaborative success in this strategy-filled webinar: Forging Successful Industry Collaborations: A Stony Brook University Case Study, scheduled for March 14th.

Attendees will gain critical insights on how you can craft equally successful industry partnerships — and grow licensing revenues, research dollars, and regional economic benefits for years to come. For complete faculty and program details or to register, click here.

Coming soon:

• Trade Secret Protection, Management and Licensing: What TTOs Need To Know | Friday, March 10, 2023
• IP Matchmaking Strategies: Building and Curating a Solid Network to Increase Deal Flow | Wednesday, March 22, 2023
• Technology Transfer Marketing and Branding Roundtable | Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Trade secrets are a unique form of IP whose value, unlike patents, trademarks, and copyrights, relies upon preventing competitors and others from discovering those secrets. Properly identifying what constitutes a trade secret, understanding its commercial value, and legally protecting it can be considered an important element of your overall IP strategy — or you risk losing that IP altogether. 

Many TTOs and research managers have an incomplete understanding of the trade secret aspects of their IP portfolios and may fail to capture the value it can represent either alone or when paired with patent licenses. Of course, the academic right to publish must be factored in as well. That’s why we’ve partnered with Richard Cahoon, PhD, and attorney Peter Toren for this important 90-minute webinar: Trade Secret Protection, Management and Licensing: What TTOs Need To Know, scheduled for TOMORROW, February 15th.

In this expert-led session, you’ll learn what’s needed to facilitate the creation, management, and commercialization of trade secrets. You’ll get practical advice on ongoing management and licensing issues related to trade secrets, and a key topic will focus on how patents and trade secrets can be integrated to protect a new technology and increase its licensing value.

For complete details or to register, click here.

Coming soon:

• AI-derived IP and NFTs: Protection Strategies and Licensing Considerations| Tuesday, February 28, 2023
• Forging Successful Industry Collaborations: A Stony Brook University Case Study| Tuesday, March 14, 2023
• IP Matchmaking Strategies: Building and Curating a Solid Network to Increase Deal Flow| Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Finding the right partner — whether for research funding, start-up creation and investment, licensing technology, or industry engagement — is a skill set that encompasses sales, marketing, science, art, and a whole lot of organizational proficiency.

You will engage with countless people on a technology’s journey through the commercialization pipeline. Each contact is a valuable part of building your network and every encounter has the potential to become a success story. But fostering these relationships is only one part of the picture.

You’ll need to keep track of who’s who: What technologies they are interested in, who gravitates to early-stage inventions and who invests only in revenue generating companies, their interest by technology sectors, which contacts are regional vs national or global in scope, what previous communications have occurred and what are the next steps. It’s a lot of work to keep it all organized, but it pays off when you finally find “the one” and a deal is signed.

That’s why we’ve secured a panel of presenters to help you become an expert matchmaker. On March 22nd, join Erika Warner of Tangible IP and Joe Runge of UNeMed for IP Matchmaking Strategies: Building and Curating a Solid Network to Increase Deal Flow. They’ll each reveal their unique strategies for gaining and holding the attention of potential future stakeholders, keeping their contacts and networks organized, and closing the deals when the time comes. For complete details or to register, click here.

Also coming soon:

• Trade Secret Protection, Management and Licensing: What TTOs Need To Know | Wednesday, February 15, 2023
• AI-derived IP and NFTs: Protection Strategies and Licensing Considerations | Tuesday, February 28, 2023

In the tech transfer and sponsored research worlds, the acronyms for a dizzying array of contracts and agreements may seem like alphabet soup to all but the experienced professionals who work in TTOs and research offices. NDA, MTA, CRADA, SRA, MSRA, CRA, IIA, DTUA, MOU — and then there are the specific types of license agreements: express, exclusive, non-exclusive, option — all with different purposes and different terms.

Unprecedented turnover means a new and less experienced workforce that may be less familiar with the intimate workings of the commercialization process. It can be hard for faculty, students, and new staff to discern which agreement is appropriate for what situation, who the stakeholders are in each, common terms, and other key differences. It’s difficult to reach everyone to ensure they have a basic working knowledge of research contracts and agreements, but the uninformed can leave your IP vulnerable and possibly violate university IP policy.

Contracts and Agreements in Research Commercialization: A Primer for New Staff, Faculty, Interns, and Students is an on-demand distance learning program that can give you a big assist in education and training, and the video, Powerpoints, and print transcript you’ll receive can be shared without limitation throughout your organization.

Featuring Jessica L. Boyle, JD, Associate Director, Division of Sponsored Programs with The University of Iowa, and Bryce Pilz, Executive Director of Licensing & Strategic Alliances with Innovation Partnerships at the University of Michigan, this outstanding primer focuses on the fundamentals needed to understand the various documents, agreements and contracts that involve the protection and commercialization of university IP. For complete detail, click here.

AI-generated or AI-assisted inventions as well as NFTs are largely untested in the IP legal landscape. While they present a fast-growing, potentially lucrative opportunity for universities to diversify and strengthen their IP portfolios, their cloudy IP status makes them risky bets.

Headlines addressing the controversy surrounding inventorship and ownership of AI-generated innovations and content are increasingly common and highlight some of the legal challenges faced in protecting and licensing these assets. Thus far most U.S. and foreign courts have declined AI-generated patents, but the issue is far from settled and courts in at least two countries have allowed some patent protection. 

And though NFTs are gaining popularity as licensable assets, particularly in areas like student-athlete brand imaging, art, historical items, and fundraising, do they live up to the hype? Are the risks worth the potential reward?

It’s imperative that TTOs and IP attorneys understand the unique aspects of NFTs and AI-derived technology to maximize revenue, protect their IP, and avoid patent, copyright, and trademark liability. That’s why we’ve secured Mitchell S. Feller, Principal with Gottlieb, Rackman and Reisman, P.C. to lead this insightful, one-hour webinar: AI-derived IP and NFTs: Protection Strategies and Licensing Considerations, scheduled for February 28th.

For complete details or to register, click here.

Also coming soon:

• Trade Secret Protection, Management and Licensing: What TTOs Need To Know | Wednesday, February 15, 2023

In a perfect world, the metrics used to gauge the performance of tech transfer and industry engagement offices would clearly identify areas of strength and improvement while also pinpointing weak spots needing extra attention. The data would provide a meaningful assessment of both how you’re doing and how to get better, and also offer a fair report card on your team’s effectiveness in achieving a set of well-defined goals.

But that perfect world is often not the reality for many offices, whose metrics may seem less than meaningful and less than fair. Are strictly financial metrics an accurate reflection of your office’s broader contribution to the university? Is goal setting and achievement really within your control? Are data normalized so your results and judged against true peers? While disclosures, licenses, start-ups, partnerships, and research dollars will always factor in, what other metrics can give a fuller picture of activity and impact?

To help you assess and refine your performance measurement and metrics, we’ve produced Employing Metrics in Technology Transfer and University-Industry Engagement, a three-session collection of distance learning programs filled with expert guidance on how to improve the way your office’s activity and results are tracked, analyzed, and judged.

For complete program and faculty details or to order, click here.

Trade secrets are a unique form of IP whose value, unlike patents, trademarks, and copyrights, relies upon preventing competitors and others from discovering those secrets. Properly identifying what constitutes a trade secret, understanding its commercial value, and legally protecting it can be considered an important element of your overall IP strategy — or you risk losing that IP altogether. 

Many TTOs have an incomplete understanding of the trade secret aspects of their IP portfolios and may fail to capture the value it can represent either alone or when paired with patent licenses. Of course, the academic right to publish must be factored in as well. That’s why we’ve partnered with Richard Cahoon, PhD, and attorney Peter Toren for this important 90 minute webinar: Trade Secret Protection, Management and Licensing: What TTOs Need To Know, scheduled for February 15th.

In this expert-led session, you’ll learn what’s needed to facilitate the creation, management, and commercialization of trade secrets. You’ll get practical advice on ongoing management and licensing issues related to trade secrets, and a key topic will focus on how patents and trade secrets can be integrated to protect a new technology and increase its licensing value.

For complete details or to register, click here.