The article below appeared in the September 2008 issue of Technology Transfer Tactics.

Launched this spring with a resident affiliate from the University of Siena, Italy, the effort already has helped the university identify collaborative opportunities with institutions in Tuscany, says Mark Coticchia, vice president for research and technology management at CW. The program is intended to share best practices and to develop global capital and talent networks, he says. “This is taking networking to an international level.”

Benefits of global connections

Coticchia notes that developing relationships between U.S.-based and overseas institutions can help both gain access to development funding they might not otherwise be able to access. For example, U.S. universities working in collaboration with European schools might be able to access European Union funding, he says. Even more important, he adds, are the prospects for developing working relationships and partnerships on a variety of projects down the road, Coticchia observes.

Another benefit of the program is the entrée it provides to overseas markets for university start-ups, Coticchia notes. “Most of the companies we spin off have a global reach from the get-go,” he says, and having a staffer who can help gain entry into a country or region is extremely helpful in attracting overseas interest. For the foreign affiliates, on the other hand, entry into North American markets is equally important, he says.

Potential candidates for the resident affiliate position include professionals who are already involved in tech transfer at their institutions, or those who looking to open a TTO and want to “learn the ropes” at an existing office. The resident affiliates gain experience and know-how by shadowing CW’s staff. “On-the-job training — the mentor approach — is how most people have learned to do tech transfer,” Coticchia says.

In addition, while the resident affiliates are in the U.S., they have other training and networking opportunities available through AUTM and at other institutions, he says. Resident affiliates have the opportunity to participate in meetings, courses, and workshops at minimal cost to their sponsoring organizations, and CW’s tech transfer team recommends courses to help affiliates acquire new skills that they can bring home.

Andrea Frosini, a tech transfer manager in the Liaison Office at the University of Siena, was CW’s first resident affiliate; he spent three months at the university earlier this year, Coticchia says.

During his tenure, Frosini identified several opportunities for CW to collaborate with Siena and other institutions in the Tuscany region. And, since returning home, Frosini has been assigned new responsibilities with the Toscana Life Sciences Foundation, Coticchia reports.

The Case Western TTO hosts one resident affiliate at a time. Coticchia has lined up the next two from universities in Hungary, one of whom will start work this month. He is also in discussions with institutions in France, Australia, and Argentina for future affiliates. Finding willing participants has been done through informal networking at AUTM and other tech transfer meetings.

The program costs virtually nothing to run and doesn’t even have a budget, Coticchia says. The resident affiliates pay their own travel and living expenses, and CW simply provides them with work space.

BU fellowship builds global network

Boston University’s Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization has been running a similar program for the past three years, says Ashley Stevens, D.Phil., the TTO’s executive director. In this program, BU offers tech transfer fellowships to individuals with business, scientific, and legal skills whose objective is to establish and lead a successful tech transfer program at a major research institution in their own country.

The fellowship program is more formalized than Case Western’s resident affiliate program. The fellow is required to:

• participate in tech transfer activities, attend meetings, and manage the initial stages of a small portfolio of new inventions;
• take a course in technology commercialization;
• visit other tech transfer operations in the Boston area;
• establish connections with the sciences attaché of their home country’s embassy in Washington, D.C., and with their Boston consulate;
• identify fellow countrymen working in the innovation economy in Massachusetts who can form the basis for an ongoing network; and
• complete a research project on an aspect of technology transfer that will be publishable either by itself or as part of a larger report.

The university is offering the fellowship as part of its strategy of building a network of collaborating institutions around the world, Stevens says. The school does not fund the position, he says, which limits applicants to those who can find funding from their home countries or institutions. The first fellow, from India, had a fellowship from the National Institutes of Health, which provided money for him to come to Boston, Stevens says.

Since the program began, BU has hosted fellows from the Norwegian Radium Hospital in Oslo, the Business Development Company at the University of Basel, Switzerland, and the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux in France, he says. Another fellow, from Barcelona, Spain, will arrive in October.

By running the program, the TTO is both creating an international network and “getting some free work” from the fellows, Stevens comments. In addition, the program offers the university’s tech transfer team the opportunity to see how professionals in other countries work and learn from them as well, he says.

Contact Coticchia at 216-368-3577 or coticchia@case.edu; contact Stevens at 617-353-6303 or astevens@bu.edu.