Home > Topics > Establishing and Operating Technology Transfer Offices > Technology Transfer Data Management > Editor's Summary, Implications and Best Practices

A technology transfer office (TTO) should be able to manage enormous amounts of dynamic data. Unfortunately, too many TTOs still try to accomplish this task with a paper filing system, which is cumbersome, slow, and inflexible. Above all, it severely limits the ability to interrogate data creatively. Using electronic systems, a manager can rapidly formulate questions that in a physical file environment would be unthinkable, due to the time required to assemble and analyze the information sets.

The TTO management experience is relatively fresh, and the cost of failing to professionally manage data is not yet widely recognized. Examples of such costs include large, unpaid obligations that persist because of inefficient methods for collecting revenues, or poor management of a technologies portfolio. Both of these situations could result in real costs to the TTO, although it may take several years for this to become evident.

Electronic file systems also provide shared communication links and can utilize advanced spreadsheet applications. This chapter considers the relative merits for TTOs of spreadsheets, flat file databases, and relational databases. It especially emphasizes the benefits of the latter, highlighting their ability to transfer entire projects from one manager to another with the click of a button and the unprecedented power they give managers to look at data and business models in creative ways. It also requires less data entry and can be easier to maintain and audit. For all of these reasons, the relational database is usually the best solution.

The chapter then shows how this powerful solution can be amplified through the use of a Local Area Network (LAN). Even for small TTOs, the advantages of using a LAN in combination with a relational database are remarkable. Among other benefits, it can dramatically reduce data entry labor and enhance efficient data distribution. The chapter also explains how to ensure data integrity and manage “analysis paralysis” in such systems. It concludes with a useful questionnaire to guide decisions about adopting a software management solution. Some of the most important items to think about are the suitability of the software for the actual tasks the TTO performs, the costs of training and maintenance, and the likelihood that staff will actually use the system.

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

• In terms of information management, electronic data systems are now essential to all organizations. Specific national infrastructure, such as internet access and high speed connectivity, are integral to such systems.

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

• Establishing an electronic data management systems will involve careful cost/benefit analysis. It is important to build a system that adequately, and affordably, connects the needs of the institution to the various hardware, software and other capabilities and infrastructure that will be required. Hence, up front evaluation is key.

For Scientists

• Among the many professionals in your institution, you will be the ones most likely to possess sophisticated computer skills. Offer to assist your technology transfer office (TTO) in setting up its electronic data management systems by sharing your expertise with them.

For Technology Transfer Officers

• Managers with ready access to current data can work faster and with greater accuracy and can make decisions with increased confidence.
• With implementation of appropriate software solutions, staff will be more likely to bring important issues to the attention of the supervising technology transfer manager, and necessary interventions will more likely occur.
• As a training tool for new technology licensing managers, the software tools described in this chapter can create an environment where staff can work more efficiently, with fewer work projects falling behind schedule.
• Software solutions can increase responsiveness.