human: Why is it neccessary to evaluate inventions?
assistant: Only a small percentage of inventions ever make profit. The costs for patent protection of inventions can be substantial. The probability and risk of spending money for patenting inventions that will never make it to the marketplace are high. For the DKFZ to recoup its investment, a technology must be of sufficient commercial interest for an industrial partner to be prepared to obtain a license for the technology and pay royalties for it.If there is an interest in a license at the time of disclosure of the invention, for example through a collabo-ration agreement with an industrial partner, then the financial risk taken on by the DKFZ with a patent application is low. In this case, the Office of Technology Transfer will try to agree with the company that they pay the patenting costs, develop the technology further and bring it to the marketplace.If no industrial partner has yet shown an interest in a license at the time of disclosure, the Technology Transfer Office will conduct an evaluation of the invention based on commercial criteria. The goal of the evaluation is to assess whether a licensee can be found within a reasonable time and/or what steps should be taken to increase the appeal of the technology for potential licensees.