The Office of Technology Transfer assists students and faculty in their efforts to patent inventions and market them to industry. And with all of this research that is going on, we really need to be proactive about looking for intellectual property that is coming out of that. Intellectual property is everything of value, patents and copyrights, that might be spinning off of research. For example, if it is something that requires clinical trials with patients, then we aren't going to be able to do that next step very well. We are going to need to partner with someone.
Technology is often very difficult to market.
One reason for this trend is that university inventions tend to be underdeveloped. Universities typically are not targeting a particular industry need when conducting research. The technology needs to mature before it is attractive to someone in the market place. This maturation process can be costly, which often deters big business. Just 2-3 percent of all patents earn enough money to cover the cost of the patent.