Technology transfer offices of the future must
evolve to compete and excel in the midst of trends
and drivers that are affecting university commercialization programs.
Operations that effectively integrate creative talent solutions to supplement
core office functions and employees will be in a better position to succeed;
however, we understand that this is easier said than done.
It is often quicker to assign tasks to existing
staff than to locate and leverage the right external skill sets; but, this
approach often spreads operations too thin, wastes time/resources, and detracts
from real priorities. As an example, according to the tech transfer office of
today from AUTM (as
illustrated in our recent forecasting exercise), we believe that at least
30% of the current staff time breakdown could be better serviced by a talented
source of contract workers.
With contract workers tech transfer offices of the
future can:
- Reallocate staff time to core function/expand
staff in those areas
- Save on time/resources, by leveraging a group with
unique, specific skill sets/extensive knowledge for your need area
- Limit administrative challenges and budget
constraints through flexible, short-term, and task-specific contracts
We have outlined components of specific expertise
areas that may be better addressed through contract relationships versus
full-time core employees, below:
|
|
Core
|
Contract
|
|
|
Confidential-level, focused on execution of
programs/initiatives/relationships that move technologies from the lab to the
marketplace
(Confidential,
focused execution, day-day)
|
Upfront
work on processes, initiatives, and systems. Leverage marketing capability
and existing relationships to expand message and commercial/investment
network
(New
programs/process, network expansion, short-term/periodic)
|
|
Program
Development
|
-Licensing
and Start-ups (evaluation, development, commercialization)
|
-Tech
transfer process and program engineering
-Office systems development
-Portfolio review/auditing
-New initiative benchmarking/development
|
|
Marketing
|
-Campaign
process management and scheduling
-Managing access and availability of marketing materials
-Campus point for day-day internal communication, events, etc.
-Ownership of brand and messaging
|
-Strategic
marketing planning
-Development of technology marketing materials
-Social media development/image management
|
|
Relationship-Building
|
-Management
and development of existing/new relationships
-Partner/”Sales” process management
|
-Development
of internal programs for students and faculty
-Expanding corporate and investor networks
|
To support this evolution and opportunity, The
Vortechs Group is launching a first-of-its-kind expert consultant network
dedicated to fulfilling these tasks for your technology transfer operation.
This network of 1,000 expert technology transfer
consultants was assembled to assist your operation in tasks that are often
better serviced and more cost-competitive under external consulting
arrangements. Based on your specific needs, we will create a customized
team of experts to support you in expertise areas described above.
In the coming weeks we will survey this community
of technology transfer leaders to identify expertise areas important to your
operation. We will also identify where there might be opportunities to leverage
contracting expertise, and how we might align our experts with those need
areas.
Until then, please check out
our expert technology transfer consultants page here and provide feedback.
Also if you are interested in becoming part of the
expert network, or want to look into how our network can help you office today,
pleace contact me directly at glen@vortechsgroup.com