1.1 What is Tech Transfer? What is the Tech Transfer Professional’s Role?

1.1.1 Tech Transfer Defined

Many people talk about Technology or Tech Transfer, institutions want to engage in it, and people get hired to do it. But what is it, exactly? After all, there are many forms of Tech Transfer – scientific publications, workshops, hiring of new graduates, libraries. Although these are all forms of Tech Transfer, in this Guidebook, Tech Transfer has a different and specific meaning. For the Tech Transfer Professional (TTP), Tech Transfer is the process of converting inventions and discoveries into intellectual property (IP) which enables certain legal rights to that IP, which enables commercialization. The TTP manages this process for the benefit of inventors, institutions, private sector partners – and ultimately the public good.

1.1.2 The Elements of Tech Transfer

Tech Transfer is a multifaceted process. It requires numerous, interrelated functions, steps and responsibilities which are distilled into a few basic, essential elements. The TTP needs to know these elements and how to orchestrate them all into a coherent process.

1.1.3 Role and Responsibilities of a TTP

The TTP plays a key role in the Tech Transfer process. The TTP is crucial in selecting promising technologies for implementation/commercialization, manages IP strategy, promotes the technology to potential partners, negotiates Tech Transfer agreements, and resolves issues that may arise between and among inventors, and with other partners. The TTP is not the technology expert (that’s the inventor) but is the technology champion, responsible for all aspects of the process from invention disclosure, through evaluation, IP protection, tech marketing, negotiations, and monitoring. 

1.1.4 Institutional Motivation to Do Tech Transfer

There are many reasons for Public Sector Research Institutions (PSRIs) to engage in Tech Transfer. Of all these reasons, making money is less important. While revenue generation and return on investment is a key driver of the Tech Transfer process, PSRIs are primarily motivated by their mission of serving the public good. Indeed, Tech Transfer is one of the most effective ways to foster the development and dissemination of inventions for the benefit of the public good. Done well and ethically, the institution’s reputation will be enhanced, inventors will be rewarded, private sector partners will succeed and the public’s interests will be advanced.

1.1.5 The TTP’s Basic Skills

TTPs come from a variety of educational and experiential backgrounds; some are technical, some business, others legal. Of course, all TTPs bring their own special talents and expertise to the process. However, all TTPs must understand – and know how to use – a key set of skills. For many TTPs, some skills are easier to learn than others – some are quite outside their education and experience. For most, acquiring and developing these skills is a life-long endeavor.

1.1.6 European “Knowledge Transfer”

There are some who prefer to use the term “knowledge transfer” rather than “technology transfer”. Knowledge Transfer is more commonly used term in European countries, whereas Technology Transfer is much more widely used in the United States and other non-European countries. In Europe, offices are frequently referred to as “KTOs” and generally also have responsibility for negotiating consulting contracts for faculty and collaborative research agreements with companies. 

In the United States, Technology Transfer is the term commonly used to refer to the use of intellectual property-based mechanisms that capture inventions in a property form, and then contractually transfer use rights to that property through a license agreement contract. The offices that are responsible for it are called Technology (or Tech) Transfer Offices or TTOs.  In the United States, faculty typically negotiate their own consulting agreements and in many universities an Office of Sponsored Programs negotiates all research agreements, including with companies.

The authors of The Focused Guide believe that Technology Transfer is the preferred term to distinguish it from the numerous and varied forms of knowledge transfer that universities (and other not-for-profit research institutions) have routinely and historically engaged in. It is our opinion that referring to IP-based, contractual transfer of use rights as “knowledge transfer” is confusing and seemingly conflated with the many mechanisms of historical knowledge transfer.  Knowledge transfer can easily refer to libraries, outreach programs, courses, webinars, seminars, and consultations. However, if and when Knowledge Transfer is based on IP-based grants of commercial-use rights, it is essentially the equivalent of Technology Transfer.

For those early in the Tech Transfer profession, it is important to understand that technology transfer and knowledge transfer are often used interchangeably.  The key criterion – and the one that surely distinguishes technology transfer – is whether there is some IP at the heart of the transfer process.

Throughout this Guidebook, the term consistently referred to is Technology Transfer or Tech Transfer.