TTO organization Paolo Landoni Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering Politecnico di Milano

© P. Landoni Introduction Knowledge-based society Firms need to access knowledge generated outside their boundaries (Open Innovation, Chesbrough, 2003) Universities want to transfer their research results, technologies and knowledge In order to facilitate knowledge transfer from university to industry, a new organizational entity has emerged at research university: the technology transfer office (TTO) (Siegel, at al., 2004). 2

© P. Landoni 3 TTO names Technology Transfer Office (Industrial) Liaison Office Knowledge Transfer Office University Industry Linkage Contract Office Office of sponsored research Patenting and Licensing Office Business Development Office …

© P. Landoni TTO TTO objectives (Young, 2007): facilitate the commercialization of research results for the public good; reward, retain, and recruit high-quality researchers; build closer ties to industry; generate income for further research and education, and, thus, promote economical growth. TTO main activities Intellectual Property protection; licensing; support and creation of star up or spin off; negotiation of research contracts; 4

© P. Landoni Organizational structures TTO can be structured in several ways. The choice depends on several factors such as objectives, activities, expected outcomes, scientific base, etc. Siegel, Waldman and Link (1999) have noted that technology transfer outcomes may depend on organizational practices Limited evidence and research on the topic (e.g., Bercovitz et al. 2001, Fisher and Grosjean 2002, Thursby et al. 2001) 5

© P. Landoni 6 Example: ISIS Innovation Isis Innovation Ltd is the University of Oxford’s wholly owned technology transfer company. Isis was established in 1988 and in 1997 started a major expansion phase. Isis manages the University’s intellectual property portfolio, working with University researchers on identifying, protecting and marketing technologies through licensing, spin-out company formation, consulting and material sales. Isis provides researchers with commercial advice, funds patent applications and legal costs, negotiates exploitation and spin-out company agreements, and identifies and manages consultancy opportunities. Isis works on projects from all areas of the University's research activities: life sciences, physical sciences, social sciences and humanities. Isis files, on average, one patent application each week and manages over 400 patent application families and 200 licence agreements. Isis licenses technologies to companies who invest in developing and selling products in a timely and ethical manner. Licensees are sought from all technology and business sectors on an international basis.

© P. Landoni 7 Modelli internazionali : ISIS ISIS Innovation

© P. Landoni Specialized (1:n) Single (1:1) 8 U U U U U U U U U U Hub (m:1) Network (m:n) University TTO Collaboration Membership U Specialization of work Functional/competences Geographical Scientific Field A theoretical model

© P. Landoni Ownership note1 Two ownership options (Fisher and Grosjean 2002) : internal model where the office is fully integrated into the university’s external model where the office operates outside the university either as a non-profit or a for-profit corporation. 9 U U A study on 62 U.S. research universities by J.G.Thursby, Jensen and M.C. Thursby in 2001 found that the major part of TTOs are internal while 15% of them are separated corporations from their universities and only 4,8% are for-profit.

© P. Landoni Ownership note2 Campbell (2007) adds to a binary subdivision (internal vs external) an hybrid structure composed by an internal TTO that has the main objective to support the research development and the technology and knowledge diffusion and some external organization 10 U U

© P. Landoni Internal growth 11 Status A Single (1:1) Growth Stato B Specialized (1:n) U U U

© P. Landoni External growth 12 Status A U U U U U Status C Status D U U U U

© P. Landoni The research Do external growth work ? Case study analysis in Italy: 13 ProjectUniversities involvedTypology Universitas University of MilanoBOCCONI university Network Polytechnic of MilanoUniversity of Calabria NUOVO ILO University of PaduaUniversity of Pavia Network University of PerugiaUniversity of Trieste NOVA university of SienaUniversity of Firenze Network School of Saint Anne of Pisa TTP University of TorinoPolytechnic of Torino HUB University of Piemonte Orientale ILONET University of SassariUniversity of Cagliari HUB University of Milano BICOCCAUniversity of Genoa STRETTO University of Reggio CalabriaUniversity of Messina HUB