There is no shortage of people from outside of our industry discussing what we do and how we can improve. Although many of those groups may have their own agendas, views, and biases, it is difficult to deny that we as a field face a number of changes. As the leader of Emory’s technology transfer efforts, and a former President of AUTM, I am often asked what I think the biggest challenges facing our industry are: here are my thoughts…
Now and going forward, the biggest challenge is and will continue to be managing expectations. When I got into technology transfer 24 years ago, the biggest complaint by tech transfer professionals was that no one cared about what we were doing. We cared. We loved what we were doing, and we were perhaps the only ones that believed we had important roles and responsibilities. Now 24 years later, it’s quite the opposite scenario. Everyone is interested in technology transfer. Today, managing expectations is more critical than it has ever been. We are more commonly in the public eye and yet, not everyone understands our profession. There are a lot of debates going on, and unfortunately most people in these discussions are not informed about the level of technology successes and improvements in technology transfer already achieved by universities. The uninformed do not look at the profession and talk about what is already being done; instead they talk about what should be done, critiquing without looking into the metrics and improvements already afoot. Often times, they are reacting without testing their assumptions, and their suggestions are already in action in tech transfer offices around the nation.
As an industry, technology transfer has to challenge the uninformed and their assertions as well as remain ever committed to our fundamentals. New ventures and programs are wonderful ways to support technology transfer efforts but with their growth we run the risk of losing focus on our core functions. I believe there is no magic bullet that will revolutionize our industry; we need to continue to do the things that have already allowed us to be successful, but do them better and more effectively and with the support of these new programs and initiatives. We need to continue to get good disclosures, make good patent filing decisions, relentlessly market technologies, diligently negotiate license agreements, and enforce those license agreements. If we do so more universities will be lucky enough to have success, results will continue to increase, and the data will show that success. By doing so, even if no one invents a magic bullet, ten years from now our profession will be stronger, be doing more than what we are doing today, and will have a better and network of programs and offices to support what we do.
Secondly, more so than a challenge, in the future there is a great opportunity for technology transfer professionals to define and change the way public and private entities engage in collaborations. I think it is important for us to be able to take part in these collaborations. Our own federal government has stepped up to fund more applied research than ever before with the implication that universities are going to do a better job and play a bigger role further down the innovation pathway. Such an opportunity can present a lot of challenges to a university in the same way it presents a challenge to a pharmaceutical company in that each entity must try to succeed with new technologies. This rise in funding via grants and collaborations shifts a greater portion of the burden for the economy to universities. Although it won’t be an easy thing to accomplish, it provides great opportunities not only to our industry and its stakeholders, but also to the general public that benefit from these activities as a whole.