An Ocean of Opportunities in Tech Transfer

Early in my career I admit to suffering from the youthful malady of pessimism, believing that nothing new could be invented. From that narrow view, it seemed as though the world was only working on small, iterative changes based on foundational technologies. Now when I advise young entrepreneurs, mostly students, I hear similar complaints - when they don't have ideas or visions of their own (yet), and feel like there's no room in the world for massively impactful new inventions. It's funny hearing this from a student now, when I grew up in the era before floppy disks, smartphones and social media.

Working on a quiet government IT contract in 1993, I first learned about technology transfer. It intrigued me that a technology might need support or transformation before it could be moved from lab to industry, from one industry to another, or from one country to another (reflecting on stages of industrial development). At the time I was enamored with the supercomputing industry, and there were concerns about having the tech spread from the UK and US pioneers to places where climate, medical and nuclear modeling tools could be used for less than peaceful purposes.

Later I worked for a research hospital on getting breakthrough technologies out of the lab and into the clinic. The tech transfer challenge was truly multidimensional; regulatory constraints, scarce investment resources, mountains of risk, a fierce competitive landscape and a clash of cultures with academic, government, financial and medical personnel. I found myself in Boston, arguably the world capital of life sciences. The home of Harvard, always ranked among the top medical schools, as well as Mass General, always ranked among the top hospitals, site for all of the global drug companies with adjacent R&D arms, and as a result, all of the venture capital sources targeting this arena. Imagine an early stage licensing conference, where all of these players collide in a 3-day "speed dating" format. I was in tech transfer mecca.

More recently, I've been exposed to the tech transfer game in the defense sector. The US Department of Defense operates its own labs for fundamental and applied research, as well as sponsoring research in academic institutions through the STTR finance program, and working with small businesses and startups with the SBIR finance program. There are innovation departments in each of the branches (look up AFWERX, SOFWERX, xTech and other programs) and smart, motivated folks trying to make sure that the best ideas can be incorporated for the improvement of national defense. The same mentality exists (has always existed) that inventions made for DOD uses should have commercial applications and spinoffs, not just to recover invested tax dollars, but to ensure that the innovations deliver benefits to the general public. Similar efforts exist in Canada, the UK, and within NATO management.

For any of you feeling a lack of new ideas, or fatigue at seeing many of the same proposals (show me another blockchain, IoT or COVID-19 rapid test and I'll scream!), don't despair. Throw a dart at a map and pick the university closest to that dart. Contact their office of tech transfer (sometimes the "OTT", or office of sponsored research, or a similar name). You'll likely find an overworked but dedicated ambassador between the institution's labs and the commercial sector, with a small but powerful catalog of research available for licensing or spinout. It will be a listing for problems solved in a lab, by qualified and diligent researchers, often over the course of years. The work will have been completed by applying for grant funds, already a competitive structure designed to allow the best ideas to filter through. The final work will be peer reviewed for publication in a high-impact journal. The OTT will have spent considerable money to protect it with patent applications. It's yours for the asking, if your intent is to make an enterprise out of it, or develop it for a marketplace where it will be acquired by some industrial giant. Anything to get it off the shelf!

Look at that catalog carefully. Now consider that the US News and World Report ranks the top research 1500 universities from 86 countries. Some are more visible than others, in places where ideas and investment capital have been paired for decades (Boston, London, Toronto, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Tel Aviv) but truly, the great ideas come from everywhere - don't discount the non-English speaking world, or fly-over states, the quality of the work in my experience is always excellent. Flintbox is a decent starting point but there are a number of other portals dedicated to reaching folks looking for innovations to foster. For non-academic sources, NASA and the ESA have similar portals (NASA was once promoted as the largest tech transfer site in the world), ARL and AFRL for the DOD, Livermore Labs and Pacific Northwest National Labs in the United States, the NRC and NSERC in Canada - the search results never end.

Based on my poor math, that's half a million research products ready to blow your mind and inspire the launch of a new company. Now, your only challenge is "analysis paralysis" - when faced with a menu of thousands of options, what would you have for lunch?

And please, call me if I can help.