Essentials of Academic Technology Transfer

October 21-23
Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront
Portland, Oregon
Register Now Meet the Instructors
 

Sunday, October 20

4:00 - 6:00 a.m.	Course Registration
6:00 - 7:00 p.m.	Meet and Greet: Come to the course room to pick up your assignments, meet your instructors, and gain important information on the case studies we will be using throughout the next three days to introduce you to the foundations of technology licensing. You’ll meet your tablemates and begin to build relationships through networking activities.

Monday, October 21

7:00 - 8:00 a.m.	Breakfast on Your Own (Coffee and Tea Service Available)
8:00 - 8:30 a.m.	Welcome & Introduction Welcome to the Essentials course! There is so much to learn, and your instructors have so much they’d like to share with you.  During this session, you’ll be introduced to a web/app-based tool that will help attendees and instructors keep the focus on what everyone needs to know to be a successful technology licensing manager.
8:30 - 10:15 a.m.	Innovation Assessment With an ever-increasing pool of innovations to assess, time management and focusing on critical elements is essential. Assessing innovations requires understanding its application(s), whether it addresses an unfilled need, and whether it addresses a problem. This session covers business, legal, and technical considerations used to decide whether the innovation has a viable commercial opportunity that warrants the allocation of additional resources to protect and market the innovation to potential licensees.
10:15 - 10:30 a.m.	Break
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.	Innovation Assesment Cont.
12:00 - 1:30 p.m.	Lunch
12:00 - 1:00 p.m.	Market Research: Attendees will learn the basic tools and methods to conduct market research, including how to use “score cards” for assessment.  We will survey various types of market research, provide practical resources for performing research, and discuss methods for discovering unmet market needs.
3:00 - 3:30 p.m.	Break
3:30 - 5:00 p.m.	Reaching Potential Partners: In this session, we will synthesize the outcomes of your assessment and market research activities to start marketing the technology.  How do you develop and deliver a message that captures the attention of potential partners, and which legal agreements will help you begin deeper engagement? How do you generate and manage leads? What untapped resources are available to you? And how can you pull it all together to create an effective, scalable, marketing plan? We will explore tools and methods to keep you organized, productive, and focused on results.
5:30 - 6:30 p.m.	Networking Reception

 

Tuesday, October 22

7:00 - 8:00 a.m.	Coffee with instructors
8:00 - 9:00 a.m.	Partners
9:00 - 10:00 a.m.	Valuation It’s time to start working with your commercialization partner on the financial terms of your deal.  We will discuss how to use the information you have and translate it into deal terms that work for both you and your partner.
10:00 - 10:30 a.m.	Break
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.	Fundamental Framework of a License Previous sessions focused on identifying a potential partner for the commercialization of your innovation and some of the agreement surrounding commercialization.  The next step is to agree on a license framework that addresses the needs and concerns of the parties and the myriad details that are part of an intellectual property transaction.  License agreements lay out these fundamental understandings in legally binding contracts that govern the parties’ ongoing relationship, often long after the original drafters have left their organizations.  We will show you how to see the forest for the trees in these often-complex agreements by focusing on their underlying functional framework.
12:00 - 1:00 p.m.	Lunch
1:00 - 3:00 p.m.	Fundamental Framework of a License (Continued)
3:00 - 3:00 p.m.	Break
3:30 - 5:00 p.m.	Beyond the Deal: Your job isn’t done when the deal is signed.  The Essentials instructors will take you beyond the deal in the broadest sense: not only through maintaining strong relationships with your partners and re-negotiating agreements as circumstances change, but also forward to developing your own career as a technology transfer professional.  We will devote time to delve deeper into issues attendees have raised during the course and answer remaining questions.

Wednesday, October 23

7:00 - 8:00 a.m.	Coffee with Instructors
8:00 - 9:00 a.m.	Special Needs of Startups: Startups often require much more attention than established licensees.  It all starts with you ensuring that you have an intimate understanding of your institutional policies around the creation and support of startups.  With that foundation, the process of establishing a startup begins with helping the investigators understand their role in the startup and their responsibilities to the institution.  This session provides a high-level overview of the issues that need to be addressed and common and evolving practices at universities that support the creation of startups.
9:00 - 10:00 a.m.	Basic Negotiations: You know what you want and what you need out of a deal.  So does your partner.  It’s time to learn the basics of negotiation to arrive at a licensing agreement that works for both of you.
10:00 - 10:30 a.m.	Break
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.	Basic Negotiations (Continued)
12:00 - 12:20 p.m.	Wrap-up and Conclusion