The following is a list of the articles that appear in the January 2009 issue of Technology Transfer Tactics monthly newsletter. If you are already a current subscriber click here to log in and access your issue. Not a subscriber already? Subscribe now and get access to this issue as well as access to our online archive of back issues, industry research reports, sample MTAs, legal opinions, sample forms and contracts, government documents and more!

Technology Transfer Tactics,
Vol. 3, No. 1 (pp 1-16) January 2009

• IRS questionnaire a ‘shot across the bow’ for university TTOs. In what one attorney is calling a shot across the bow, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service is putting universities on notice that it is going to put their finances under a magnifying glass to root out any practices or revenue-generating activities that run afoul of the institutions’ tax-exempt status ……… p. 1
• Strategic planning, long-term view help TTOs manage through sour economic times. Technology transfer professionals tend to be a positive bunch. Interacting with inventors, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists will do that to you. However, with the economy in the tank and new rounds of layoffs topping the headlines on a daily basis, it’s tough to stay upbeat. However, tech transfer experts who have been through down economic cycles before suggest a far better approach is to use this time to weed out wasteful spending, make sure everyone in the office is productive, and put in place strategic plans for the long term ……… p. 1
• Financing woes? Create a VC fund exclusively for your university. In a dicey market, creative financing strategies are more important than ever to keep the stream of innovation flowing from your university. One Scottish institution has taken that to heart. Instead of relying solely on the whims of angel and venture capital investors, the University of Strathclyde has created a dedicated fund to finance commercial opportunities exclusively coming out of its own research labs ……… p. 2
• University TTOs can adopt lessons learned from DoD tech transfer process. Although the mission of a university TTO is significantly different from that of a government laboratory, best practices adopted in U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) TT operations can be adapted in other settings ……… p. 3
• Guest Commentary: The perils of entering into negotiations. “There is no harm in entering into a dialog” is a common refrain in the board room. So, too, is “we have nothing to lose by negotiating. If we don’t like the deal, we can always walk away later.” Far too often, however, when it comes to negotiations between TTOs and potential licensees, nothing could be further from the truth ……… p. 10
• Idle corporate IP can bolster your TTO’s portfolio. Despite recent legislation that removed most of the tax benefit for corporations that donate idle patents, TTOs can benefit by seeking out unused corporate IP, says Ken Anderson, director of entrepreneurial and small business support at the Delaware Economic Development Office in Wilmington ……… p. 11
• TurboNegotiator software aims to smooth the path to sponsored research agreements. It’s getting tougher to craft research collaborations between academia and industry, primarily because the laborious — and often, ultimately, fruitless — negotiation of intellectual property rights in sponsored research agreements has become such a barrier ……… p. 14

Posted January 1st, 2009 under Current Issue