What do all inventions have in common? They’re invented by people!
While the work of TTOs can seem transactional as you’re filing patents, negotiating licenses, securing funding, and handling a variety of agreements, at the heart of technology transfer is customer service. And your most important customers are right in your own backyard: Your faculty inventors.
The relationship between the TTO and the faculty inventor is paramount to any project’s success. But sometimes egos get in the way, goals are misaligned, or communication breaks down, putting your critical faculty relationships at risk along with the prospects for successful commercialization. It’s in these times when a customer service mentality is most important — to smooth the rough edges, address problems, and lower the temperature for everyone’s benefit – the TTO, the researcher, and the university. These situations can be tough to maneuver, but when handled with care can actually serve to strengthen faculty relationships, rather than damage them.
That’s why we’ve partnered with UNeMed’s Joe Runge, JD, for this highly practical one-hour program:
Join Mr. Runge, a long-time tech transfer leader, as he discusses how to tailor a customer service approach to technology transfer, how to work with all the various faculty personalities, the TTO’s role when inventors make “messes,” and dealing with a host of other difficult situations – and resolving them with relationships intact. Finally, he’ll feature some inspiration from the customer service industry that will help you and your staff steer a clear course through conflict – and prevent problems from spiraling in the first place.
You won’t want to miss this this inspiring webinar and its down to earth, practical guidance. Here is a sneak peek at the program agenda:
- Technology Transfer and Customer Service
- Resolving conflict across misaligned stakeholders
- Getting it done with little real authority
- Meet (one of) your customers: the inventors
- Inventor Types
- Rock star faculty
- At risk faculty
- New faculty
- Inventor messes
- Inventors that don’t fulfill obligations to funders, partners
- COI issues (policy breakers)
- Departing and arriving faculty issues
- Customer service methods that work
Meet your session leader:
Joe Runge, JD MS
Associate Director/Executive in Residence
The UNeTech Institute / UNeMed Corporation
University of Nebraska Medical Center
University of Nebraska Omaha
Joe is a registered patent lawyer, a published scientist and sought-after expert on intellectual property and entrepreneurship. In a 17-year career in technology transfer, joe has negotiated contracts, evaluated inventions, protected intellectual property, licensed technologies, launched startups and built a unique medical technology ecosystem in Omaha Nebraska. Joe supervises over 3 million dollars of externally funded entrepreneurial and translational research grants. As part of UNeTech, Joe is working with his colleagues to leverage community entrepreneurship, university inventions, and economic development to launch more and better university technology startups.
