Unused, unlicensed technologies are part and parcel of every research university’s portfolio of intellectual property. However, the University of Rochester in New York has found a way to put its unlicensed IP to work while also providing students with hands-on entrepreneurial experience. This September, Rochester will officially launch a Master of Science degree called the Technical Entrepreneurship and Management (TEAM) program. Every TEAM student will create a business plan around a real technology, and will also have an opportunity to commercialize that technology via a start-up company or licensing effort.

“We really want to train students to be innovators — beyond just the concept of having an idea,” says Robert Clark, PhD, dean of the Edmund A. Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “It’s one thing to have an idea or technology that has potential. It is another thing to recognize what it takes to move that technology out into [the] market.”

TEAM graduates should be capable of not only “mastering the technical side of the work that they have to do, but also be able to render those ideas into economically viable commercial ventures,” says Clark.

Exactly how the TEAM program will work is still being mapped out. But the basic concept is that TEAM students will spend the fall semester analyzing unlicensed technologies to assess commercialization opportunities. “Then in the spring semester,

they form into teams of two to three students, and they write a full business plan,” Moore explains. “This year-long process will allow them to determine whether there is a market opportunity for the technology they’ve chosen. If they have a good idea, they will have the chance to spin off the technology and actually go out and start the business.” A detailed article on the program appears in the May issue of Technology Transfer Tactics. To subscribe and access the full article, plus all archived back issues filled with best practices and detailed success strategies for TTOs, CLICK HERE.

Posted June 9th, 2010 under Tech Transfer

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