Category: Marketing

Whether is coming up with an idea or grasping the technical aspects, writing a feature for a new technology can be daunting. No one knows more about a new innovation than the inventor themself, but even with access to the inventor, there are difficulties encountered. Here are a few challenges and tips to be aware of as you help bridge the gap between the inventor and general audience in communicating new innovations (part one of this series can be found here). Understanding the Research The initial assignment is met with a mixture of excitement and anxiety; a new technology and the chance to interview its inventor is thrilling, but occasionally the technologies are highly complex and become somewhat difficult to understand without a PhD. A good place to start is a quick Google search on that area of research—look for references from reputable sources, including Wikipedia or YouTube, to gain a basic understanding of the science. Also look for previously published papers from the inventor as a resource. Sometimes you can even find a past interview with the inventor which can be very helpful in thinking about how to approach the piece. Crafting the Questions At this point, it is

Discoveries are made every day; some discoveries have vast implications, while others might only impact a small group. Some innovations emerge through a serendipitous accident, and others are the product of a lifetime of work. There is incredible variability in how discoveries are made, and that variability should be represented in the narrative of the scientific innovation. The role of technology transfer is to help researchers  move their discoveries and inventions to the marketplace. What we call a “featured innovation” is an opportunity to explain a new technology in an accessible and engaging way. The audience is broad, from the general public to potential investors, lawyers, inventors, academics, and OTT professionals. These pieces should answer four main questions–What? Who? How? Why should I care?–while simultaneously including the inventor’s journey. When writing a featured innovation piece, the first step is to do some preliminary background research on the new technology. This research will allow one to craft specific interview questions for the inventor and gain a greater understanding of the new technology and its purpose. Next, it is usually most productive to interview the innovation’s case manager. Case managers oversee the process of moving the innovation out of the University to

Quentin, our marketing manager, and myself recently attended a webinar on content marketing. While the agenda may have skewed to more of a traditional sales and marketing focus there were still plenty of lessons to be learned for a tech transfer office. What were some of the key takeaways for tech transfer professionals? Here are our top five from each of the four presentations. Developing a Content Strategy The dilemma we face is quality vs. speed vs. cost and which two do we want? Go back and optimize/update/add new links to existing content for new life. Analyze what has been popular and see what the trends/themes might be and see if you can build a new piece around that. Don’t forget to look within for team members! Put yourself in your audience’s shoes and write to them. Video Content to Tell Stories Start small – learn and build. Don’t lose site of the forest or audience by getting caught up in the details. Video length in social 30 seconds to 1 ½ minute; Facebook is 30 seconds! Don’t forget closed captions on your videos; remember specials needs and in some platforms video starts without sound. Optimizing Your Content for Search  The

AUTM’s (the Association of University Technology Managers) Annual meeting in San Diego, as others before it, was a whirlwind of non-stop education, networking, and partnering. AUTM 2016 was a busy meeting for the OTT team as members volunteered, attended sessions, spoke on panels, and participated in partnering sessions over the four day event. The weather was wonderful and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the “winter break.” There were a record number of marketing sessions at this meeting and here is our top ten list of marketing tips. Office Marketing Always have a call to action, always drive traffic back to your web site Branding is often misunderstood, but your brand is everything you say and do and how you say and do it Repurpose content – package parts and use in different ways and locations Share your successes Students can be a great resource to expand your marketing capabilities Technology Marketing Don’t just talk about what technologies you have available, but listen to what companies need When preparing a technology brief the writer should be skeptical and prove the value to themselves Your technology brief must include the value proposition for the technology Companies categorize inventors as established, up and comer, and

For the 4th year in row, OTT is using September to promote our research tools by highlighting these innovations in our blog, on our website, and on social media. Each year hundreds of new innovations are disclosed by the faculty here at Emory. It is our role to manage these innovations, guiding them from the lab bench to the hands of a commercial partner. An often overlooked piece of the commercialization puzzle is the numerous research tools (cell lines, antibodies, plasmids, research software, etc.) that are also created and shared with many groups and other researchers. We received 43 new research tool disclosures in FY15 and currently have more than 230 tools available for licensing; over a third of those are antibodies. These tools form the workhorses of bench research and are critical components in facilitating discovery. Additionally, they can serve as an additional financial resource for both the University and the scientist in support of the research enterprise. The University has averaged $500,000 in revenue from research tools over the past ten years. This revenue also supports the scientist and their lab by providing additional discretionary revenue in support of their research. Over the past ten year’s more than

Cancer has been part of the human condition since the beginning of recorded time. What are believed to be the first descriptions were found in an ancient Egyptian surgical medical textbook from 3000 BC. Today, cancer continues to be a national health menace. Even with the many advances in treatment and care, it remains the second most common cause of death with over 585,720 cancer deaths and 1,665,540 new cancer cases diagnosed in 2014. This month in our social media, the focus will be on cancer. So, why cancer you ask? Emory has a deep commitment to cancer research and patient care. One of the most prominent signs of the University’s commitment to cancer research and patient care is the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, the only National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated cancer center in Georgia. (Join us in one of our next blogs to find out more about Winship.) Also, while there are now more than 20 awareness days, weeks, or months around cancer, May just happens to be National Cancer Research Month (follow #NCRM15 this month on Twitter),[i] so we are taking this opportunity to help build awareness around the ways Emory is impacting cancer research. In