While technology transfer has garnered more attention than ever before from government officials and economic-development organizations, there remains a great deal of misunderstanding about how the process actually works. Because it is a complex profession fraught with nuances and complexities not necessarily obvious to non-practitioners, it is important that we take every opportunity to communicate with policy makers who are creating legislation and allocating resources that impact our profession. The good news is that these policy makers welcome the opportunity to learn more about what we do and in particular to hear about the impact of our profession at the local level with real stories and real people that have benefited from the many life-altering discoveries that are finding their way to the market.
While in DC this month, I engaged with representatives from my state: Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio. They welcomed the opportunity to learn about how universities are moving research discoveries into the market to transform lives and particularly how many of these discoveries are the foundation for startup companies that are employing the citizens of their state.
We discussed the “Free Agency” component of Startup Act 3.0— a concept which would allow university faculty to shop discoveries to any third party for licensing—regardless of where the research was conducted. While we agreed there are many positive components in Startup Act 3.0, the Free Agency component has many unintended consequences which could ultimately hinder our ability to fully benefit from the economic impact of university-based technology startups in Florida.
AUTM has created a very helpful position statement that does an excellent job explaining some of the problematic components of "Free Agency." It can be found on the
AUTM website.
Additionally, an info graphic on the topic
can be found here. For those looking to engage with their representatives, your first step should be getting in touch with your government relations officer who can help guide the education process with state and federal policy makers.
It is imperative that we help others understand there are no simple shortcuts for commercializing early stage academic inventions. We must ensure that those who deploy resources work in a collaborative manner with AUTM and technology transfer practitioners to make well-educated decisions that can further improve upon many of the best practices that are currently in place—practices of successful patenting and licensing that have yielded amazing results as clearly evidenced by AUTM data.