Mission & History

Supporting our Members' Vision for a Better World

University tech transfer powers the innovation economy, creating jobs, saving and enhancing lives, improving productivity and offering solutions to environmental challenges. By moving discoveries from basic research laboratories to commercial partners capable of transforming the inventions into beneficial products and services, tech transfer makes the world a better place to live.

Our mission is to support and advance knowledge/technology transfer worldwide.

From its inception in the mid-1970s as the Society of University Patent Administrators (SUPA), AUTM has developed best practices for university technology transfer offices and facilitated relations with industry to ensure that inventions with high commercial potential reach the marketplace for the benefit of people everywhere.

Along the way, AUTM’s work on behalf of its members has contributed to improved intellectual property protection and the establishment of a profession dedicated to technology transfer.

Today, the results of AUTM’s efforts can be seen in the millions of people who have been treated for conditions ranging from epileptic seizures to cancer and HIV, thanks to the more than 200 drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that started in university laboratories since the Bayh-Dole Act was enacted in 1980.