Asia, like the United States, has its own resources for technology transfer. Asia is home to many organizations that connect the region to promote training and networking, and these organizations have been critical for the astonishing success during the past decades. The key organizations that foster this success include: Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) Asia, Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology. These organizations allow for a high level of regional interdependence within Asian technology transfer, which has benefited the region greatly.
This week people from all over the world are meeting at AUTM’s meeting in Asia, or AUTM Asia, in Chiang Mai, Thailand to discuss technology transfer in Asia. To spotlight this yearly event, we highlight technology transfer organizations and efforts in Asia this week.
BIO is a global trade association that consists of academic institutions, biotechnology companies, and other biotechnology-related organizations. The association is divided into four sectors: emerging companies, food and agriculture, health, and industrial and environmental. The scope is vast, but the organization strives to connect innovators through global dialogue, networking opportunities, and educational programming. BIO Asia will host the International BIO conference in March 2016, which will connect American and European companies focused on drug development with Asian biotechnology companies. International partnerships promote research collaboration and licensing agreements, which help promote a healthy global economy.
AUTM is a non-profit organization that includes over three hundred universities from across the world. The goal of AUTM is “to support and advance academic technology transfer globally.” AUTM provides professional development opportunities to empower its members, sponsors community-building initiatives, and proactively works towards global improvement within the field of technology transfer. Asia’s regional branch of AUTM functions similarly to other branches. AUTM Asia will host its own conference, which features lectures such as “License Agreement Liny-by-Line” and “How to use IP Informatics to Form Research Project.” Combined with the educational component, the conference provides a space to interact for academic research institutions and technology transfer specialists, which helps promote collaboration.
APEC was formed in 1989 in the wake of increasing technological globalization. APEC’s goal is to “create greater prosperity for the people of the region by promoting balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative and secure growth and by accelerating regional economic integration.” APEC works to increase transparency and ease of regulations internationally to increase economic collaboration and success. APEC includes twenty-one countries, ten of which are in Asia. APEC aims to create free and open trade investment within the Asia-Pacific by 2020. In order to achieve this goal, APEC advocates for trade agreements to increase liberalization, builds technical capacity to empower individuals and promote business, and works to develop business grounded in both efficiency and the public interest.
The Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology was established in 1977 to promote technology transfer in the region as a whole, with a focus on small and medium size projects and enterprises. The goal is to build capacity for technology transfer in the countries that are a part of the organization, which includes fifty-three countries ranging from Samoa to the Netherlands. Much of the capacity building efforts are centered on increasing knowledge and access. One major component of the Centre is the Global Technology Database, which serves to connect entrepreneurs and technology transfer from across numerous countries.
Organizations like these have helped the innovation development and technology transfer flourish in Asia in recent years. Although it is global in nature, the transfer process occurs in unique ways in different regions. Despite the international exchange of the tech transfer process, there is a lack of transparency among the IP policies of numerous Asian nations. In the US, universities that create and disclose an innovation gain intellectual property rights, whereas in some Asian nations, such as China, an innovation developed at a state-funded university is limited to university management, while the state maintains ownership. With the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act (BDA) in 1980, American universities, even when research is federally funded, are allowed to hold patent rights to their inventions.
Numerous Asian countries have passed bills with varying degrees of similarity to BDA, but policy is not the full solution. Alongside policy change, there must be institutional reform in universities that supports the changes and provides resources for technology transfer activities. For example, out of forty-five universities in Malaysia, only seventeen have been able to establish Technology Transfer Offices. Compared to the US, technology transfer is much lower and costs and direct costs linked to the transfer process make up only 19% of the total cost of the project.[1] Compared to other regions, Asian nations, especially Japan and Korea, have higher rates of foreign direct investment in technology development. Although there are international differences, with continued dedication from collaborative initiatives, successes will likely continue and barriers to global growth will be minimized.