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Tech Transfer E-News is delivered free every Wednesday. (To enter your own subscription at no charge, click here.) It is published by Technology Transfer Tactics independent monthly newsletter, which itself is available by paid subscription. To order a subscription click here, or for a sample review copy at no cost or obligation, click here.

In this issue:


U of Ulster’s evaluation license allows trial period to “test drive” technologies

OpenUlster, a new service recently launched by The University of Ulster, is an approach to the open innovation model that includes an “evaluation license.” Operating under a unique trial period arrangement, for the minimal investment of one Pound the evaluation license allows companies to “test drive” technologies for a period of three months to a year before determining whether to proceed with a more formal license ... continue reading >>>

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  • Universities a vital link between science, industry. A new paper sponsored by the League of European Research Universities argues that the growth and development of academic TTOs is a critical factor in building university-industry links and resulting economic benefits. For that reason, it’s important to articulate critical success factors that underlie effective TTO operations. The paper sets out 10 key insights that contribute to the effectiveness of academic TTOs.
  • Consider university’s role in ‘innovation networks’. In a just-released report, Krisztina “Z” Holly, vice provost for innovation at the University of Southern California and founding executive director of the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation, lays out a compelling case for the role that U.S. universities play role in driving innovation. But she also cautions that without policy support that role could suffer, and she offers five key policy recommendations.
  • Computer “grid” capacity helps university prof boost his invention’s marketability. As this case study shows, sometimes refining an invention based on feedback from outside experts or even a sharp group of students can offer powerful marketing direction, allowing you to fine-tune a technology so it better meets your prospect’s needs.
  • Experience as intern helps TTO exec select ‘next generation’ of marketers. Tari Suprapto, PhD, assistant director in The Rockefeller University TTO, believes in “paying it forward.” Having started her tech transfer career as an intern at Rockefeller, she now leans on that experience to inform her decision-making as she chooses her own marketing interns.

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PTO announces proposed rules for supplemental examination

Jason Rantanen writes on Patently-O about the USPTO’s proposed rules for supplemental examinations and proposed revisions to ex parte reexamination fees. The proposals detail the supplemental examination process, including the information that requesters must submit, as well as the substantial fees that will be associated with post-grant review in the future.

As outlined by Rantanen, major points include ... continue reading >>>


Falana v. Kent State University: An important case on inventorship

In a separate column in Patently-O, Jason Rantanen offers a case review of Falana v. Kent State University (Fed. Cir. 2012) Download 11-1198. The case raises an important issue for developers of chemical compounds: when is an inventor’s contribution to the method of making a claimed compound an inventive contribution? ... continue reading >>>


Build and Manage a Successful Accelerator Fund for Your University

When it comes to university-based innovations, traditional investors have become nearly obsessively risk-averse, and getting the backing you need to commercialize your promising technologies and fund your start-ups has become a tougher challenge. Creating an in-house accelerator fund has become a key success strategy for a growing number of TTOs, freeing up resources that help ensure your high-potential university technologies get a fair shake -- and the development dollars they need -- to reach commercial viability. But, establishing a strategic financing structure within your university technology transfer system or research foundation can be a risky and daunting task, and requires careful planning as well as expert execution. That’s why our Distance Learning Division has scheduled this dynamic and practical webinar featuring two of the world’s leading TTO financing executives: Build and Manage a Successful Accelerator Fund for Your University, scheduled for Wednesday, March 7. Please join Richard S. Schifreen, PhD, who leads the Accelerator Program at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Jonathan Gortat, coordinator of the Emerging Innovations Fund at Purdue Research Foundation, for an eye-opening session that will reveal best practices and offer “how-to” strategies for building and managing a successful accelerator fund. To register and for complete details, CLICK HERE.

ALSO COMING SOON:


Irish universities have a lot to learn about start-ups, researcher says

Irish business funding for research and university TTOs fails to give Irish start-up companies the support they need when they need it. Instead, TTOs tend to take large chunks of company equity in exchange for funding -- exactly when the companies are most vulnerable -- or drown them in bureaucracy, according to University College Dublin (UCD) School of Business lecturer and researcher Rory O’Shea. New models of operation could free up stale university IP and rejuvenate how research is conducted and transferred into companies both inside and outside the university, he says ... continue reading >>>


Harvard gets its first VC firm: The Experiment Fund

As just about everyone should know by now, the seeds of what grew into Facebook were planted at Harvard. Might a bunch of mini-Zucks be lurking in the dorms of Cambridge? If so, a new venture capital firm -- the first housed on the Harvard campus -- wants to find them ... continue reading >>>


2012 Biotechnology and Medical Device VC Directory released

In this just released 2012 edition of BioWorld Biotechnology and Medical Device VC Directory, you’ll have crucial data and intelligence on the world of venture capital focused on the life sciences. The essential information found in the international BioWorld Biotechnology and Medical Device VC Directory 2012 is broken out in profiles and indexes that arrange the 543 pages of data by:

  • Company location
  • Investment portfolios
  • Companies invested in
  • Areas of focus
  • Primary contact personnel
  • Funding areas/indications
  • Stages funded
  • Total dollars under management

Having easy access to this critical data can mean the difference between getting the funding you need to advance your start-up or develop your technology and seeing it die on the vine from lack of resources. With the new BioWorld Biotechnology and Medical Device VC Directory 2012, you’ll have access to the information you need -- covering VCs in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia -- so you can find the right financial partner and keep your company on solid ground. For more details and to order, CLICK HERE.


Michigan State licenses food safety, security technology to spinout

Michigan State University has licensed a suite of technologies to detect a broad range of pathogens and toxins to Michigan-based start-up nanoRETE. The company was launched by Michigan Accelerator Fund I (MAF-1), an investment partnership focused on Michigan-based early stage life science and technology companies ... continue reading >>>


UIUC start-up to develop personalized cancer therapeutics

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) spinout Vanquish Oncology, Inc. is focused on targeting molecular defects in specific cancer cells to create personalized oncology therapeutics for unmet or underserved cancer markets. The company is focusing on small molecule compounds developed by Paul Hergenrother, professor in UIUC’s department of chemistry, that target cell apoptosis across multiple tumor types. Preclinical data suggest the clinical candidates are well tolerated and efficacious in rodents and canines. Additionally, the compounds exhibit synergistic effects when used in combination with common front-line anti-cancer agents ... continue reading >>>


Oxford spinout targets personalized cancer treatment

An Oxford University spinout, Oxford Cancer Biomarkers Ltd. (OCB), is set to develop technology to ensure that only those patients who are likely to benefit from anti-cancer drugs will receive them and to identify the best treatment for each person. Isis Innovation, the university’s tech transfer company, licensed the CancerNav biomarker technology to OCB and took an equity stake in the new firm ... continue reading >>>


CRT spins out company to develop ultrasound device to melt tumors

Cancer Research Technology (CRT), the commercial arm of Cancer Research UK, launched the spinout Acublate Ltd., to develop a next-generation high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) surgical device to treat a range of solid tumors. HIFU is a highly precise, noninvasive type of surgery that uses ultrasound energy to heat and destroy tumors while leaving surrounding healthy tissue intact. The treatment works with immediate benefit and has the potential to reduce side effects compared with current alternative treatments ... continue reading >>>


‘Free agency’ tech transfer provisions in Startup Act raise numerous questions

Fuentek LLC founder and president Laura Schoppe writes on the company’s blog about the inclusion of the “free agency” concept in Section 7 of the Moran-Warner Startup Act. This idea, originally proposed by the Kauffman Foundation, allows professors to choose their own agents to help transfer their technology rather than being tied to their home university’s TTO. (See previous eNews items here and here.) Before such a plan can be implemented, key questions must be addressed, she says ... continue reading >>>


How a start-up can sell products and services to a Fortune 500 company

Rawy Iskander writes on The Tech Entrepreneurship Blog that selling to a Fortune 500 company is not a walk in the park but could be key to the long-term success of your start-up. If you have decided you want a Fortune 500 company as your customer, and strongly believe you can deliver on your sales promises, keep the following tips in mind while going through your sales cycle ... continue reading >>>


Learn the four ‘catalysts’ start-ups use to win funding

Benjamin L. Hallen, assistant professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at London Business School and a contributor to Bloomberg’s Business Class, says there is a roadmap to venture-fundraising success. Hallen’s research, in collaboration with Stanford University’s Kathleen Eisenhardt, identifies four hallmarks of efficient prospecting for money. “By efficiency we mean attempts that take less than two months of formal, almost full-time fundraising, while yielding offers from desired investors,” Hallen writes ... continue reading >>>


Stony Brook, Sanofi to collaborate on tuberculosis drug

Stony Brook University has signed a multi-year research collaboration with Sanofi Aventis Group, of Paris, on a potential treatment for tuberculosis (TB) and other bacterial infections. The collaboration is based on novel compounds that inhibit bacterial cell division by interfering with a cellular protein called FtsZ, which is essential for bacterial cell maintenance and division. By interfering with FtsZ assembly, the bacteria are unable to maintain, divide and propagate ... continue reading >>>


Contribute to 2012 IP trends survey

What factors affected your TTO’s global IP strategy in 2011? What is your outlook for 2012? Participate in inovia‘s 3rd annual U.S. IP Trends Survey to weigh in. The results, which will be summarized in Tech Transfer eNews, will provide an in-depth look at the foreign filing strategy of U.S. patentees and their global outlook for 2012. The survey takes less than 15 minutes to complete and individual responses are strictly confidential. Only aggregate, anonymous information will be shared. Click here to respond on behalf of your university or organization.

Source: inovia.com


Submit Your News, Too: If your group has news of interest to the tech transfer community, submit it for consideration for publication in Tech Transfer E-News. Email to E-NewsEditor@technologytransfertactics.com

 



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