Technology Transfer Process

Office of Technology Transfer & Intellectual Property Management

Technology transfer is the process of transferring innovations resulting from research in an academic institution to the industrial sector.

The technology transfer office handles legal matters involved in the intellectual property, evaluates the invention's economic prospects and decides whether to protect the invention by patenting or by keeping the invention a trade secret. Inventions that are made using the Research Institute’s resources are owned by the Institute. 

When a commercial company and the Institute agree to commercialize an invention or a technology, a non-confidential document summarizing the invention is sent by the technology transfer office to the interested companies for a review process, with the technology transfer office requesting a signed confidentiality agreement prior to a full disclosure.

Upon further interest, the Institute and the company proceed to negotiating licensing terms. At this stage, the Institute usually requires the prospective licensee to submit a development plan and a corresponding letter of intent. After a due diligence process and the execution of a licensing agreement, both parties may start earning income from the transferred technology.