Technology Transfer: The Rise of the Entrepreneurial University

Canadian universities need better ways to commercialize their research and turn it into viable technologies. Typically, a researcher reports a potential breakthrough to her university through a confidential report. Then, technology arising from her findings can be licensed to an existing company or spun out and developed by a new spinoff. Much of this activity happens through the university’s technology transfer office (TTO). TTOs handle everything from IP evaluation and marketing to negotiating and managing licences. On average, Canadian university TTOs handle 5.11 invention disclosures per year, execute 2.93 licences and manage 3.83 university spinoffs. However, figures vary wildly between institutions, ranging from zero to double digits. Income from TTOs is just as variable, with some universities earning millions while others report net losses. Industry partners are often geographically distant from the universities they work with. Fewer than a third of one Canadian university’s licences are with companies in this country. This is because each technology has a best receptor in the private sector, and each business has a field to which it is best suited. To maximize the value of commercialization, technology should be developed by the entity with the highest values use case. However, there is no guarantee that universities and businesses will find the best assortative matches. Policy-makers may further disrupt things by insisting on local economic development. There is always a trade-off between getting IP to the best overall receptor, or the best local receptor. Information costs are one of the biggest barriers. The wide variety of research at any university makes it unlikely that a small TTO can support commercialization properly. Consolidating similar technologies in specific TTOs would allow for the concentration of subject matter expertise. To simplify things further, TTOs could let businesses come to them in pursuit of specific technologies. This could be done via web portals that push specific technologies or solutions for problems. This boutique approach will likely create better matches but does not guarantee a local match. It will also require a rethink of TTO staff compensation, with a focus on the qualityinstead of the quantity of matches. If governments are determined to use university research to grow the economy, they need to prepare the ground so there are local receptors. Areas with a lot of receptors need access to capital in the form of startup funding. If a technology requires continual input from its creators, capital and receptors are more likely to move to where the researchers are based. The solution is to increase technological inertia and the agglomerative nature of local tech ecosystems. The key is creating university spinoffs and keeping them local. The way forward involves creating a provincial office of scientific research and experimental development, using budgetary carrots and sticks to convince universities to change how their TTOs work and developing university programming to enhance the commercialization skills of subject matter experts. Creating a provincial-level refundable commercialization expense program, providing a well-curated portal listing funding and commercialization support, mandating registration/licensing of all fee-taking entrepreneurial support services and educating potential local angel investors all factor into the equation for success as well.

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