As any tech transfer manager will attest, the economic value of a TTO’s research commercialization efforts extend far beyond the licensing income they generate. Proving it, however, is another thing altogether. Yet TTOs that can compile hard data on how their activities impact the regional economy stand to score important points with university administrators, grant organizations, private donors, and legislators. One technology commercialization organization in South Carolina is using outsourced economic impact studies as a way to measure its contributions objectively and get the word out about its accomplishments. SCRA, a non-profit research and commercialization services firm that manages nearly $300 million in R&D projects for universities, government labs, corporations, and start-ups, recently released findings of its latest economic impact study. Bill Mahoney, the Columbia, SC-based organization’s CEO, says the studies it commissions demonstrate how broad the benefits are beyond the number of licensing deals it facilitates. University TTOs can benefit from compiling and sharing similar information, especially those that are struggling with chronic underfunding, he notes. Tech transfer offices “need to show what they’re doing for the surrounding economy. Those of us who understand clusters and how universities specialize over the years know the value of these studies. They put real numbers around those intuitive values the stakeholder base already knows about.” A detailed look at how the SCRA study was produced — and how TTOs can produce their own impact studies — appears in the August issue of Technology Transfer Tactics. For subscription information, CLICK HERE.

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