In the January edition of Harvard Business Review there is an article titled Top 10 Breakthrough Ideas for 2010 (PDF). Robert Litan & Lesa Mitchell from the Kauffmann Foundation penned the 6th innovative idea (pg. 6) titled A Faster Path from Lab to Market.
Inline with issues I highlighted in a previous post (An Open Letter to Technology Transfer Offices) Litan and Mitchel cite the monopolistic model of current technology transfer offices, and the resulting lack of specialisation as a bottleneck in the commercialisation process. Their solution is a free and open market for technology transfer services, whereby university inventors are allowed to choose his or her commercialisation agent.
Sadly AUTM (the Association of University Technology Managers) has posted a rather unfortunate response…
“Their breakthrough idea is to allow any inventor to choose any licensing agent regardless of their academic affiliation. Kauffman alleges that technology licensing offices are “underperforming” and are a “major impediment.” AUTM does not believe this is the case and wants its membership to know that it is taking a proactive stance by preparing a response to the article. Stay tuned for details as they emerge.”
With only a handful of technology licensing offices in the US even recouping their costs, if the industry is not “under-performing” then it certainly isn’t over-performing either. And given the rise in organisations like IP Advocate if technology licensing offices are not a legitimate impediment to commercialisation then they are certainly perceived to be; an equally vexing issue.
By immediately moving to a defensive position I believe that AUTM has done a disservice to its members. Instead of helping them understand and embrace coming disruption in the technology transfer industry, AUTM is helping to perpetuate a classic example of the innovator’s dilemma.
- Amendment in budget bill could help Ohio’s public universities spin off more discoveries (medcitynews.com)
- Startups Creation and Tech Transfer (myventurepad.com)
- The trouble with tech transfer (marsdd.com)
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- Posted:1 week ago
Profile
- Nonconforming Mind
- A passionate Entrepreneur, Innovation Evangelist, Skeptical Optimist, Non-conforming Mind and DIY-guy! Have worn more than a few different hats and most likely will wear a few more.
Currently serve as Intellectual Property Strategist for the Centre for Next Generation Localisation where I am responsible for portfolio management and commercialisation of intellectual property arising from research activities.
