FROM CAMPUS TO COMMERCE
THE UMASS OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND ENGAGEMENT The Office of Research and Engagement administers the campus’s research enterprise. It works in conjunction with academic, government, and private partners to translate new knowledge and scientific discoveries into technical innovations and scholarly works that benefit society and create opportunities for students, faculty, and the public. Its major functions encompass two broad areas: research administration and compliance, and research development and engagement. Research and Engagement also oversees large, multi-college centers, institutes, and affiliated core facilities.
T
he Technology Transfer Office (TTO), under the Office of Research and Engagement, is a faculty-service organization that lends its specialized expertise in “intellectual property”—patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets—to faculty, students, and staff across campus. It helps people recognize when they may have made an invention, evaluate patentability and commercial potential, and file and pursue patent applications. The TTO works with inventors to find companies interested in selling the patented products or to create startup companies for this purpose. It also provides advice to faculty, students, staff, and university leadership on a wide variety of matters that touch on intellectual property.
One of the TTO’s most valuable functions is seeking patents on inventions that result from UMass Amherst research, and then entering contracts, called “licenses,” that give companies the right to make and sell the patented products. The patent rights give companies an incentive to invest money and effort in developing and marketing the new products because the patents prevent other companies from selling the same products for a period of time. In some cases, the TTO licenses patent rights to already-existing companies, both large and small.
In addition, the TTO actively supports the UMass Amherst National Science Foundation Innovation Corps Site (see page 23). The TTO director, Burnley Jaklevic, is co-principal investigator on the I-Corps Site grant. The TTO licensing professionals serve as instructors or coaches for I-Corps Site program participants. If you have intellectual property questions or are considering forming a venture, please call us at 413-545-3606, email us at tto@umass.edu, or consult our website (umass.edu/tto).
8
Technology Transfer Office
14
BY THE NUMBERS FISCAL YEAR 2020
$605,200 Total revenue
24 STATE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
In other cases, the TTO collaborates with other campus organizations, such as the Office of Research Compliance, IALS Venture Development, and Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship, to support faculty, students, and others as they consider forming a company to commercialize inventions. The startup route is sometimes the only avenue for commercializing promising and highly advanced university inventions because existing companies consider them too risky.
New patent applications filed
31 51 Invention disclosures
Patents issued
License and option agreements executed
2 New startups formed
