One often unheralded piece of the commercialization puzzle is the numerous research tools (cell lines, antibodies, plasmids, research software, etc.) that are created by university researchers and shared within both academia and industry. At Emory, these research tools typically generate several hundred thousand dollars in revenue annually.
Core facilities represent an important operational and strategic role in our institution’s research mission. These facilities provide faculty not just valuable resources and equipment but valuable expertise as well. These core facilities and research centers offer research services not only to the Emory research community but also to other academic institutions and industry.
Looking to build on our existing success, one of OTT’s goals for 2013 is to ensure an inclusive licensing portfolio of non-patented technologies such as research tools. As part of that effort, OTT has been on a mission to reach out to the University’s many core facilities, recognizing that in many cases, these facilities are tasked with generating and/or storing many of these tools. By improving the communication and relationship with the cores, the office will be more aware of new tools being developed and better able to assist Emory investigators in the commercialization of these types of technologies. The process is already paying off! Through these meetings OTT became aware of new project management software being used by many cores and was able to plug an “OTT notification” into the process flow. This notification will ensure OTT is alerted when a potentially valuable new tool is being developed.
A secondary goal of the project is to improve our understanding of the immense resources that are available. This information will allow OTT to connect cores with faculty in need and better communicate to commercial partners the value of working with Emory, be it through license, sponsored work, or collaboration.
According to Cliff Michaels, a licensing associate working on the core outreach project, “Building strong relationships and understanding the immense research capabilities within our core facilities, we hope will lead to increased research tools disclosures as well as aid the OTT team in connecting faculty to resource that can help them move their discoveries or innovations forward.”
For more information about Emory’s core facilities click here.