Description
Share effective approaches for moving STC discoveries beyond the center through patents, licensing, industry partnerships, startups, and other forms of knowledge transfer—and identify the particular challenges of doing this within multi-institutional centers.
Questions to consider:
Multi-institutional challenges:
- How do centers navigate IP ownership, patent decisions, licensing, and commercialization when discoveries involve researchers from multiple institutions?
Industry engagement:
- What approaches have been effective in developing relationships with companies and moving from initial engagement to meaningful partnerships, licensing, or technology adoption?
Beyond patents:
- What other forms of knowledge transfer should STCs be capturing, such as software, datasets, research tools, standards, methods, shared facilities, technical expertise, or movement of trained people into industry?
Measuring impact:
- What should centers track to demonstrate successful knowledge transfer? Are patents and licenses sufficient, or should we be documenting other pathways from discovery to use?
Sharing practices:
- What tools, processes, agreements, or approaches have worked particularly well and could be adapted by other STCs?