Challenges and Opportunities for Innovation in the Public Works ...

(or a commercialization entity under its control) can be shifted to some other party.
Finally, the technology transfer activity can be structured to provide the agency or
institution with a degree of insulation from loss.
The manner through which an agency or institution engages in technology transfer
activities has a great deal to do with its ability to control the risks arising out of those
efforts. The organizational, loss shifting and structural issues begin well before the terms
of a licensing agreement or joint venture are developed. Indeed, they start with the
degree to which the agency or institution exercises control over the technology transfer
process, beginning with the rules governing the conduct of investigators and their
relationship with and responsibilities to their agency or institution, and they continue
through every step of the technology transfer process. Nor does any one approach
guarantee absolute protection. Rather, it is the combination of methods of risk
identification and control that can be provide an institution with the protection it requires.
A. MANAGEMENT OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
The organization of an agency or institution contributes significantly to its ability to
identify and control risks arising out of technology transfer, as well as its ability to identify
and exploit the benefits of such activities. Assuring that the organizational components
and policies are appropriate to the agency or institution is an essential first step. The only
thing worse than not having an appropriate management structure is putting the structure
in place and then ignoring it in practice.
The key organizational and management control elements include:
1. The existence of comprehensive, agency or Institution wide policies
on intellectual property and technology transfer, and assurance that
the policies governing the conduct of professional personnel
adequately address the issue of rights to all forms of discoveries and
provide standards for and require disclosure of interests in any
commercial ventures which are in any fashion related to an investigator's
research activities.
2. The existence of an agency- or institution-wide office with responsibility
for the oversight of all technology transfer activities.
3. Assurance that all agreements for technology transfer, Including
sponsored research, are subject to review and approval by qualified
counsel.
4. Assurance that each discovery is evaluated to determine it patentability
or protection under copyright laws, and that the agency or
Institution provides an expeditious and professionally managed
mechanism for the assertion of such rights.
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