Category Archives: Metrics

Is This as Good as It Gets?

One of the biggest problems with university technology transfer is that it cannot manage deliberative rhetoric. Everything is criticism, and the criticism is construed to attack the idea of technology transfer, Bayh-Dole, and/or the competency of those working in the … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, IP, Literature, Metrics, Social Science | 2 Comments

Here’s what I mean

Nick White over at the LinkedIn SpinOut group points to a story put out by the University of Edinburgh. According to a summary by Richard Wachman in The Guardian, the University claims 40 start ups in a year, raising £3m in start … Continue reading

Posted in Metrics, Technology Transfer | Comments Off on Here’s what I mean

Hmpf, vol. 2

I came by a report by The Science Coalition called “Sparking Economic Growth: Federal Funding + University Research = Innovation, Companies and Jobs“. Title says it all. The Science Coalition says it is “a non-profit, nonpartisan organization of 50 fo … Continue reading

Posted in IP, Metrics, Sponsored Research, Technology Transfer | Comments Off on Hmpf, vol. 2

Cooperative Competition

The Tour de France finished up at the end of July. The strategies of bicycle racing help to illustrate the practical nature of competition. In bicycle racing, there’s a mechanical advantage in being behind another racer. Trailing racers move into … Continue reading

Posted in Commons, IP, Metrics, Social Science, Technology Transfer | Comments Off on Cooperative Competition

Optimal Boeufmerde: AUTM’s model of tech transfer can’t get any better

The Kauffman Foundation (reminder: co-funds RTEI but has nothing to do with this blog or my opinions) suggested in a recent proposal that university licensing practice was “sub-optimal.” This has gotten the rile up in the lost territorial alley dog … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, IP, Metrics, Technology Transfer | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Optimal Boeufmerde: AUTM’s model of tech transfer can’t get any better

Minor Warlords Selling Krill

A friend sent me a link to this article by Steve Blank that shows how venture backed start ups have moved from IPO to acquisition as the primary exit. If the primary purpose of starting a company is selling it … Continue reading

Posted in History, Metrics, Social Science, Technology Transfer | Comments Off on Minor Warlords Selling Krill

University Brand "Commercialization"

Some university technology administrators are adopting the idea that the crowning outcome of public research is commercial money-making. This idea is wrapped around a shift in vocabulary from “technology transfer” to “technology licensing” to “commercialization.” These are very different concepts. … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, Metrics, Technology Transfer | Comments Off on University Brand "Commercialization"

Social Media in Tech Transfer

I don’t quite know how to write this. Piscopo version at the end. The key thing about social media is that it is social. That’s more than advertising and self-promotion, though both are of course in their own way part … Continue reading

Posted in History, Metrics, Social Science, Technology Transfer | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Social Media in Tech Transfer

A Deeper Problem than Most

Is university “technology transfer” all but dead? I’m not talking about the movement of insights from research to practice, nor of the management of intellectual property rights arising in university research. Rather, I’m talking about the offices that manage such … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, Metrics, Technology Transfer | 1 Comment

Bayh-Dole and Diversity

In discussions of diversity of practice, I encounter an urge to compare programs to obtain metrics of performance. In Canada, a number of universities have inventor-own policies. University of Waterloo, for instance. The immediate gesture is to ask whether Waterloo … Continue reading

Posted in Metrics, Technology Transfer | Comments Off on Bayh-Dole and Diversity