Home > Topics > Establishing and Operating Technology Transfer Offices > How to Set Up a Technology Transfer Office: Experiences from Europe > Editor's Summary, Implications and Best Practices

A Technology Transfer Office (TTO) can be set up in many different ways. It should be tightly aligned with its supporting institution’s missions and goals. And while income generation is often one of the main objectives for the TTO, technology transfer is also valuable because of its capacity to facilitate innovation and broker the exchange of knowledge for society’s benefit.

There is no “right” way to set up an office, but success does require considering some key issues. One of these is establishing business processes at the outset. Adequate attention should be paid to information management and realistically setting budgets. Offices tend to be either a department within the institution or a subsidiary company. Either way, accountability lines will need to be transparent.

The core element for successful technology transfer is people. The TTO should be led by an individual who understands the details of running a business. Staff with experience working in the relevant business sector are also very useful. To be able to recognize new opportunities, the technology transfer manager needs to win the confidence of academics, which is why it is helpful for the TTO to be embedded within the institution. Likewise, staff should be exposed to both academics and business people. There are many opportunities to build core skills in the team through networking, training, and literature.

Several examples of TTO structures and policies are taken from the United Kingdom, in particular King’s College London (KCL), whose technology and knowledge transfer is managed within one organization, KCL Enterprises Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the University. Switzerland’s experiences with Unitechtra, a subsidiary non-profit technology transfer company jointly owned by the two universities of Bern and Zürich, provide some useful lessons. So does the Swiss Technology Transfer Association, a network organization that aims to bring together TTOs and specialists in the field to improve the provision of services and share information and resources and thereby coordinate technology transfer knowledge and activities.

The chapter also takes a broader view of the mission of the TTO, that is, its role in knowledge transfer. Indeed, making money will always be a consideration when setting objectives, but technology transfer adds value in other important ways: as a resource to facilitate innovation for the public good and as a way to broker the exchange of knowledge between the business and public sectors for society’s benefit. Transferring knowledge across such disciplines as the humanities, law, and social sciences is as important as transferring knowledge and technology across the applied sciences, and TTOs should be set up to have the flexibility to accomplish this broader knowledge-transfer objective.

Key Implications and Best Practices

Given that IP management is heavily context specific, these Key Implications and Best Practices are intended as starting points to be adapted to specific needs and circumstances.

For Government Policymakers

• Create a budget to prime the technology transfer initiative.
• Set up a small number of suitably resourced offices. They do not need to be big, but they should be properly configured with the right people.
• Create an advisory board of technology transfer people (hands on practitioners not Policymakers), IP lawyers, and key business sectors/users: they will provide a lot of free useful advice and really get involved.
• Make friends in other countries who have technology transfer offices (TTOs) and invest in an exchange scheme to send your merging technology transfer practitioners over to learn in their offices. Practical experience makes a difference.
• Invest in people.
• Don’t worry about doing it the right way—just worry about getting it done. There is no right way.
• Ensure that you have transparent policies on IP ownership so that partners and licensees can understand what they are buying into. Do not allow publicly funded IP to vest with the individual, but ensure that ownership passes to the university or institution.
• Establish a national organization of TTOs, that will bring together TTOs and specialists in the field to improve the provision of services and share information and resources and thereby coordinate technology transfer knowledge and activities.
• Comply with international IP legislation.

For Senior Management (university president, R&D manager, etc)

• Make sure you understand why you want the technology transfer office (TTO), then back it—the TTO will not have an easy time and will need your support.
• Make sure your senior management and researchers understand why the TTO is needed and that you support it.
• Give the TTO enough money and enough freedom.
• Invest in the right person to run the team. Think carefully and do not be seduced by qualifications; you need someone who can “do” as well as devise strategy.
• Create an advisory board of the key people you need to work with (sectors, service suppliers, government, and so forth).
• Get the right training for your TTO staff.

For Scientists

• Understand why you might benefit from engaging in technology transfer and what you want to get out of the relationship with the technology transfer office (TTO).
• Know who your local technology transfer person is and work with them early on so that they understand what you want to achieve in the collaboration. Don’t try to go it alone.
• Develop an understanding of IP—what it is and how it can be protected, valued, and traded.
• If you are using materials or ideas that you did not generate, then find out where they came from and whether you can use them in this collaboration.
• Understand who is best placed to commercialize any arising IP rights and ensure that your institutions will get a share of the benefits. But have realistic expectations about what this will be and don’t haggle too much. Developing a mutual partnership of trust is important.

For Technology Transfer Officers

• Make sure you understand the missions of your office and of your institute so that you can shape your licensing activity to conform to them.
• Focus on the main objectives.
• Foster links with other technology transfer offices and share expertise through networks, people exchange, etc.
• Ensure you are properly trained in the core skills you need.
• Seek external advice where you can.
• Ensure you are capturing key information—contacts, IP, deals, etc.—and invest in a suitable database.