In our current environment, as the COVID-19 crisis continues, it is more important than ever to look at the research relationships with our corporate partners as “marriages” rather than “dates” by being value-additive partners to their business models. This requires a change to the approach taken by many university corporate engagement and technology transfer offices. Rather than focusing on in-person networking events, innovation showcases, and campus tours, universities must embrace new approaches to reassure partners, tap into alumni networks, and set the stage for pre-negotiating IP terms.

Tech Transfer Central’s Distance Learning Division has recruited Asa D. Brown, Esq. of the Washington State University Innovation & Research Engagement Office, to lead this webinar that will teach you new tactics for expanded, more responsive, and more strategic engagement.

Join us on June 16 for Ushering in a New Age of Corporate Research Engagement: Best Practices for Universities, when he’ll also discuss programs that engage research partners in spin-out companies and prepare graduate students to work with industry, along with proven strategies to leverage social media and existing networks to build corporate champions through technical alumni.

Click here for complete program details and to register.

Also coming soon:

• Leveraging the Federal and State R&D Tax Credit: What University Start-Ups Need To Know ~ Wednesday, May 13, 2020
• Fast-Tracking IP Licenses for COVID-Related Innovations: Critical Points of Consideration for University TTOs ~ Friday, May 15, 2020
• Virtual Engagement Strategies for TTOs: Scaling Up Online Connectivity Now and Building Future Resiliency ~ Thursday, May 21, 2020
• Weathering the COVID-19 Storm: Supporting University-Based Start-ups and Protecting Intellectual Property ~ Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Establishing, reviewing, and revising policies and practices that govern sensitive issues surrounding the commercialization of faculty research is no easy task. From IP ownership and conflicts of interest to faculty incentives and disclosure management challenges, the policies and strategies you use form the foundation of your faculty relationships while also serving as a firewall against compliance problems, legal disputes, and public relations nightmares.

Policy and Practice Governing Faculty Inventors: Protecting Your University While Building Solid Relationships for Lasting Success is a four-hour collection of distance learning programs that identifies best practices and proven strategies from your peers across the country who have successfully tackled policy issues and implemented key practices to protect the university while also building solid relationships with inventive faculty. The four programs included in the collection are:

• Blurred Lines and Gray Areas: Managing Conflicts of Interest in University Tech Transfer and Sponsored Research
• Departing Faculty: How to Protect University IP, Avoid Legal Disputes, and Preserve Funding
• Amending University IP Ownership Policies to Boost Disclosures and Corporate Interest
• Incentivizing University Faculty for Commercialization Activity

Click here for more details or to order.

Tech Transfer Central has scheduled three important webinars for the coming month, each addressing a different set of challenges being faced by TTOs and other research commercialization offices as they adjust to life in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Click on any of the titles below for complete details and registration info.  

• Fast-Tracking IP Licenses for COVID-Related Innovations: Critical Points of Consideration for University TTOs ~ Friday, May 15, 2020
• Virtual Engagement Strategies for TTOs: Scaling Up Online Connectivity Now and Building Future Resiliency ~ Thursday, May 21, 2020
• Weathering the COVID-19 Storm: Supporting University-Based Start-ups and Protecting Intellectual Property ~ Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Also coming soon:

• Tomorrow, April 29: Managing Risk Related to Research Fundraising and Industry Sponsorship: A New Era of Due Diligence ~ Wednesday, April 29, 2020
• Leveraging the Federal and State R&D Tax Credit: What University Start-Ups Need To Know ~ Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Industry’s reliance on university collaborations for R&D is no longer just a trend – it has become more like a seismic shift. Innovation-starved corporations are eagerly seeking out university partners, but only those universities that have embraced this shift and prepared their campuses for a new level of integrated industry engagement will reap the benefits.

That’s why we’ve produced a distance learning collection featuring four leading universities that have used innovative strategies and proven programs to achieve robust relationships with corporate partners. Kansas State University, Brown University, the University of Georgia, and the University at Buffalo are prime examples of how to foster welcoming and comprehensive industry engagement initiatives that result in research funding, job creation, philanthropic funding, talent pipeline development, and economic development.

Effective Models of University-Industry Engagement: Case Studies in Success features the details behind each of these program in four in-depth presentations. The collection comes complete with the original program materials and in three formats — DVD, online video, and transcript — so you can listen and share them with your entire staff for at-home learning.

For complete details on this valuable collection, click here.

University fundraising and industry sponsorships — critical revenue sources for universities — are under the microscope like never before. Think Sackler. Think Epstein. Think Saudi Arabia, China, tobacco, or oil.

While contributions from these funding sources — and others who may have fallen from grace, are associated with controversy, or perhaps have ties to companies or countries with questionable motives — might once have been welcomed with open arms, they have now put many organizations under tight scrutiny.

These linkages, once revealed, give rise to uncomfortable questions from the media, legislators, student and faculty groups, and other key stakeholders: What sort of vetting and approval was done prior to accepting these funds? How does a university that relies on donors and research sponsors to support their operations and their missions — and advance their key tech transfer and research programs — vet donors to avoid potentially harming their brands, reputations, and ongoing funding relationships?

Tech Transfer Central, in partnership with University-Industry Engagement Advisor, brings you this critically important webinar led by Bond T. Lammey, senior vice president of prospect development at leading fundraising firm BWF. In Managing Risk Related to Research Fundraising and Industry Sponsorships: A New Era of Due Diligence, scheduled for April 29, 2020, she’ll detail the policies and procedures you need in place to prevent a crisis in controversy before it even happens. All registrations include online video for sharing with staff after the live event, plus five additional lines at no cost for those attending remotely. Click here for complete details.

Also coming soon:

• Leveraging the Federal and State R&D Tax Credit: What University Start-Ups Need To Know ~ Wednesday, May 13, 2020
• Virtual Engagement Strategies for TTOs: Scaling Up Online Connectivity Now and Building Future Resiliency ~ Thursday, May 21, 2020

When it comes to matters of regulatory compliance in research, there is no room for error. Fortunately, strong education and airtight monitoring systems can prevent the damaging consequences of non-compliance that can result in a black mark on your university’s reputation – as well as its future research funding.

That’s why we’ve created the Best Practices in University Research and Tech Transfer Compliance distance learning collection. The collection consists of three distance learning programs, complete with all original program materials, filled with expert compliance guidance related to the Bayh-Dole Act, reporting guidelines for iEdison, and SBIR/STTR funding regulations.

You’ll receive the recorded programs in three formats — DVD, on-demand video, and transcript — so you can listen and share them with staff at your convenience in whatever format you choose.

The three programs included are:

• Bayh-Dole Compliance Check-up: Effectively Address the Challenge of Complacency
• Maintaining Compliance with iEdison: A Practical Guide for Universities
• Avoid SBIR/STTR Fraud and Abuse Allegations in University Research

Click here for more details or to order >>

Tech transfer and industry engagement offices rely on close relationships with peers, faculty, students, government agencies and business partners to keep the innovation wheels greased and the pipeline flowing. The pandemic all but brought that to a grinding halt — at least in the traditional sense. But this presents TTOs and industry engagement offices with an opportunity to build and scale virtual engagement platforms that can not only be critical in this dire moment in time, but in the future as a means of enhancing resiliency and expanding outreach and actually expanding your ability to connect.

This is the time to establish dynamic engagement tools and technologies outside the conventional confines of in-person events and meetings: convergence of digital experience within events of all size and scale is not a nice-to-have, but a must-have. 

To help you make that transition, Tech Transfer Central has teamed up with a panel of experts who will explore approaches to integrating virtual engagement strategies that can serve your urgent needs for continued outreach while deepening connections within your current ecosystem, scaling your ecosystem presence, and ensuring greater resiliency for the future. Please join us on May 21st for Virtual Engagement Strategies for TTOs: Scaling Up Online Connectivity Now and Building Future Resiliency. For complete faculty and program details, click here.  

Also coming soon:

• Managing Risk Related to Research Fundraising and Industry Sponsorship: A New Era of Due Diligence ~ Wednesday, April 29, 2020
• Leveraging the Federal and State R&D Tax Credit: What University Start-Ups Need To Know ~ Wednesday, May 13, 2020

University fundraising and industry sponsorships — critical revenue sources for universities — are under the microscope like never before. Think Sackler. Think Epstein. Think Saudi Arabia, China, tobacco, or oil.

While contributions from these funding sources — and others who may have fallen from grace, are associated with controversy, or perhaps have ties to companies or countries with questionable motives — might once have been welcomed with open arms, they have now put many organizations under tight scrutiny. These linkages, once revealed, give rise to uncomfortable questions from the media, legislators, student and faculty groups, and other key stakeholders: What sort of vetting and approval was done prior to accepting these funds? How does a university that relies on donors and research sponsors to support their operations and their missions — and advance their key tech transfer and research programs — vet donors to avoid potentially harming their brands, reputations, and ongoing funding relationships?

Tech Transfer Central, in partnership with University-Industry Engagement Advisor, brings you this critically important webinar led by Bond T. Lammey, senior vice president of prospect development at leading fundraising firm BWF. In Managing Risk Related to Research Fundraising and Industry Sponsorships: A New Era of Due Diligence, scheduled for April 29, 2020, she’ll detail the policies and procedures you need in place to prevent a crisis in controversy before it even happens.

All registrations include online video for sharing with staff after the live event, plus five additional lines at no cost for those attending remotely. For complete details, click here.

Also coming soon:

• Tomorrow, April 8th: Anatomy of an IP License Agreement: Webinar Workshop for Tech Transfer Professionals
• Leveraging the Federal and State R&D Tax Credit: What University Start-Ups Need To Know ~ Wednesday, May 13, 2020

University fundraising and industry sponsorships — critical revenue sources for universities — are under the microscope like never before. Think Sackler. Think Epstein. Think Saudi Arabia, China, tobacco, or oil.

While contributions from these funding sources — and others who may have fallen from grace, are associated with controversy, or perhaps have ties to companies or countries with questionable motives — might once have been welcomed with open arms, they have now put many organizations under tight scrutiny. These linkages, once revealed, give rise to uncomfortable questions from the media, legislators, student and faculty groups, and other key stakeholders: What sort of vetting and approval was done prior to accepting these funds? How does a university that relies on donors and research sponsors to support their operations and their missions — and advance their key tech transfer and research programs — vet donors to avoid potentially harming their brands, reputations, and ongoing funding relationships?

Tech Transfer Central, in partnership with University-Industry Engagement Advisor, brings you this critically important webinar led by Bond T. Lammey, senior vice president of prospect development at leading fundraising firm BWF. In Managing Risk Related to Research Fundraising and Industry Sponsorships: A New Era of Due Diligence, scheduled for April 29, 2020, she’ll detail the policies and procedures you need in place to prevent a crisis in controversy before it even happens.

All registrations include on-demand video for sharing with staff after the live event, plus five additional lines at no cost for those attending remotely. For complete details, click here.

Also coming soon:

• Managing TTO Operations During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Planning for Future Disruptions ~ Complimentary Webinar: Tuesday, April 7, 2020
• Anatomy of an IP License Agreement: Webinar Workshop for Tech Transfer Professionals ~ Wednesday, April 8, 2020

The Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs can be critical and significant sources of funding for university innovations and start-ups. With nearly $2 billion in funding being awarded each year, faculty innovators, start-up founders, TTO staff, and sponsored research managers must understand how to ensure their applications stand apart from the herd. That’s why we’re offering this two-session distance learning resource: Best Practices in Gaining SBIR/STTR Funding for University Technologies. It includes these two outstanding, strategy-filled programs:

• Dispelling SBIR/STTR Funding Myths and Misconceptions for University-Based Innovations. Many myths and misconceptions persist regarding how to apply, who can apply, what technologies are eligible, and how funds are awarded. SBIR/STTR funding consultant and former NIH scientific review officer Geoffrey White, PhD, dispels the myths and offers solid guidance on successful applications.
• SBIR/STTR Funding: Strategies for Submitting a Winning Application. Knowing the critical factors that lead to success can make a huge difference in determining whether you get funded — and ultimately in whether your research or early-stage venture ever makes it to the commercial marketplace. This session identifies the four primary components to getting funded through these two highly competitive programs. It also addresses the key challenges facing SBIR/STTR applicants and offers expert guidance for planning ahead to ensure successful completion of major steps within the application process.

For complete details or to order, click here.

The crackdown on foreign influence in federally funded research is not going away – and now is not the time to let your guard down. Multiple federal agencies remain focused on failures among research universities to report linkages to foreign governments and organizations – and university leaders must assess their exposure and their compliance procedures.

It is becoming clear that the current state of a university’s compliance efforts and internal controls on foreign researchers will be considered in any future investigations and resulting penalties, so it’s time to make sure your house in order.

That’s why Tech Transfer Central has teamed up with UT-Austin’s Export Control Officer and Export Compliance Counsel David Ivey for this important webinar: Navigating Foreign Relationships and Reporting Requirements in University Research, scheduled for March 31. Attendees will get a solid plan of action for both policy and real-world practice. For complete program details or to register, click here.

Also coming soon:

• Managing TTO Operations During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Planning for Future Disruptions ~ Complimentary Webinar: Tuesday, April 7, 2020
• Anatomy of an IP License Agreement: Webinar Workshop for Tech Transfer Professionals ~ Wednesday, April 8, 2020
• Managing Risk Related to Research Fundraising and Industry Sponsorship: A New Era of Due Diligence ~ Wednesday, April 29, 2020

As part of its mission to support holistic industry engagement and assist universities in attracting more corporate partners, University-Industry Engagement Advisor has produced a distance learning collection featuring four leading universities that have used innovative strategies and proven programs to achieve robust relationships with corporate partners. Kansas State University, Brown University, the University of Georgia, and the University at Buffalo are prime examples of how to foster welcoming and comprehensive industry engagement initiatives that result in research funding, job creation, philanthropic funding, talent pipeline development, and economic development.

Effective Models of University-Industry Engagement: Case Studies in Success features the details behind each of these programs in four in-depth presentations. The collection comes complete with the original program materials and in three formats — DVD, online video, and transcript — so you can listen and share them with your entire staff at your convenience in any format. For complete details on this valuable collection, click here.