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AUTM Asia Recap

By Sean Flanigan posted 03-26-2013 14:05

  
AUTM ASIA 2013 concluded this past Friday, and with more than 600 attendees representing 17 countries, the energy level was high, the content was exciting and the audience was engaged.

AUTM extends its gratitude to Dr. Keisuke Makino and Kyoto University as well as the entire organizing team that put together a tremendous meeting, a meeting that was not just a great regional meeting but one that was a great AUTM meeting, full stop.

I was honored to deliver one of the opening keynote addresses, during which I was able to discuss some of the history of technology transfer globally and in Japan, specifically. As I always do I highlighted the importance of basic research as a precondition to technology transfer and there can be no question that research is an integral part of Japanese academia. In fact, in December 2012, when AUTM was delivering professional development courses in Hamamatsu, Japan, the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine to Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University. This type of recognition is a reflection of the importance of research in Japan. The fact that Japan has more Nobel laureates in science and medicine than Australia, China and South Korea combined reflects the fact that Japan has been committed to academic research excellence for decades and continues to be a leader not only in this region but on the global stage as well.

When we look at data from sources such as the OECD we see that Japan consistently ranks near the top of OECD countries for its expenditures in basic research. In the period between 2005 and 2011 the Japanese investment in academic research averaged about $23B US per year. The annual figures have seen some variations but over this period the line is trending upwards and this is a good thing. It is a good thing because without support for basic research you cannot have innovation.

Innovation, I believe, is the globe’s only perpetually renewing resource and at the core of university innovation has been, and always will be, a strong commitment to basic research.

So I would suggest to you that when it comes to the question of Japan’s commitment to basic research, the only conclusion that we can make is that Japan has been and continues to be an ardent supporter of academic research and success in technology transfer.

Technology transfer, either in Japan or elsewhere, is a numbers game. With more research comes more disclosures, with more disclosures comes a greater number of opportunities for licensing and with greater licensing opportunities comes the potential for increased licensing revenue.

This was seen during the period of 1991 to 2011 in the US when the greatest increase in US technology transfer outcomes (as measured by the AUTM survey) came at the same time as a growing federal commitment to fund basic research at US universities and when Universities were growing their technology transfer capacity.

When Japan introduced its version of the Bayh-Dole Act just over ten years ago there was started a similar process which saw increased research, disclosures and human capacity in tech transfer offices.

Lets look at the facts since change took hold in Japan:

- There are now more people working in technology transfer than at any time in Japan’s history, building an ever increasing knowledge base in this complicated space;

- According to WIPO, Japan is now leading the world in ICT patents

- In 2011 Japanese universities were issued almost nine times as many patents as in 2005;

- Between 2005 and 2011 the number of active licenses between Japanese universities and commercialization partners doubled and the number of licenses generating running royalties tripled;

And finally, between 2006 and 2011 the licensing success rate of Japanese universities increased from 15.3% to 21.2%.

But success is much more than just the numbers and figures. We heard from speakers from around the world who implored the attendees to focus less on the metrics and more on the results, and to get the stories of our impact out to the world, much like AUTM has been doing through the Better World Project.

Technology transfer works and it works in Japan. AUTM can help foster the further growth of this initial success in Japan. My goal in working with the Board for the next two years will be to see an AUTM that is better able to deliver on new and exciting initiatives in the US and in regions such as Asia broadly, and Japan specifically.

These initiatives have already begun with the delivery of professional development course in Hamamatsu. We recognize the significant relationship that exists between AUTM and our Japanese colleagues and to that end we are committed to expanding this educational effort by bringing more local content and experience to the planning and execution of such courses. In fact, it would be my goal, that by the time we deliver AUTM professional development courses in Japan, say in 2016, these courses will be lead by local technology transfer professionals and taught in Japanese while supported by our strong international community of practitioners.

In order to do this we have appointed our very first Assistant Vice President for Membership Development in Japan, Kosuke Kato, and his voice is already being heard around the AUTM boardroom.

We shall be working with Kosuke Kato and others to bring the Registered Technology Transfer Professional program to Japan. This accreditation, developed by AUTM in conjunction with leading technology transfer organizations from around the world, including KCA in Australia, ASTP in Europe and Praxis-Unico in the UK, is a peer review based system to guide technology transfer professionals along their career path as they develop the skills and experience necessary to effectively do academic technology transfer. We have seen tremendous excitement for this program in Europe, Africa and North America and we are committed to making this program more readily accessible to our Japanese colleagues.

Kyoto 2013 was the third such regional meeting that we have been pleased to present in conjunction with our local partners, the first being in Beijing - 2011, last year in Singapore and we are pleased to extend AUTM’s commitment to the Asia Pacific region with events already in advanced planning stages for Taiwan next year and Sydney, Australia in 2015.

Congratulations again to Professors Makino, Ohtani and Kaneta as well as to the countless volunteers who made AUTM Asia such a success. See you in April 2014 in Taipei, Taiwan.
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