University Technology Transfer and the Coronavirus Crisis
March 2020
Universities are fulfilling an extremely important role in addressing the coronavirus crisis, and technology transfer is a part of this.
In the UK, researchers at the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College produced the report which finally persuaded the government to get serious about the crisis. Radio and TV channels are full of expert commentary from university academics across virology, epidemiology, history, psychology, engineering. In the US, the Johns Hopkins University Centre for Systems Science and Engineering is leading the world in COVID-19 case and death data collection and presentation. Well-funded high-quality research universities are a major national asset.
Cambridge University, together with the Wellcome Sanger Institute, is coordinating the collaboration between expert groups across the UK to analyse the genetic code of COVID-19 samples circulating in the UK giving public health agencies and clinicians a unique, cutting-edge tool to combat the virus.
Oxford University is one of the key national centres for vaccine research, leading development and trials of a vaccine candidate against the virus. Engineers, anaesthetists and surgeons from Oxford and King's College London are working on a new ventilator – OxVent – less advanced than existing commercial models but relatively quick to construct. Oxford’s research centre in Suzhou, China has developed a rapid testing technology for COVID-19, taking about 30 minutes and not requiring complicated instrumentation.
University research outputs such as these will be transferred out from the universities into other organisations (government agencies, charities and for-profit businesses) better placed to develop, design, manufacture and deliver products and services to help people.
The expertise and experiences developed over recent decades amongst university researchers and within university technology transfer offices will help make this happen fast and effectively. This need not be about money at all; but some of it maybe, and that is ok.
University researchers now have more experience of collaborative endeavours involving business. Researchers have seen colleagues engage successfully with businesses, small and large, and enhance not damage academic careers. These days University people know industry people: the researchers know each other; the research development managers know the business development managers; the CEOs know the Vice-Chancellors. Thousands of research collaboration and commercialisation agreements have been negotiated and signed. The mechanics of getting the necessary arrangements in place is well understood.
The fact that university-business interactions have increased massively in recent decades and the mechanics of concluding effective transactions are well-understood will help. Existing university spin-out companies are working on technology solutions in diagnostics, equipment and vaccines. The fact that universities are far improved in helping establish these companies and the volume of early stage investment finance has increased massively are helping. University technology transfer offices can file patent applications and then allow the right organisations to use the inventions to develop the products and services to benefit people.
The use of patent rights to protect inventions that may be used to address aspects of the Coronavirus crisis will be criticised. Patent rights allow owners to prevent some and allow others to use inventions, over a long period of time. Governments have rights to intervene to make patent rights available in exceptional circumstances such as these, should this be necessary. A sense of shame, embarrassment and reputation management is more likely to lead to patent owners making inventions available without seeking profits to address the crisis; if not, governments can step in.
What about the money?
University technology transfer is not about the money. The number one priority has always been to transfer technologies, and other research outputs, for development into products and services that can help people. Making money comes further down the list of priorities; it is reasonable for universities to share in the commercial success of university research outputs.
Allowing other organisations to use your patent rights is not only about money; licensing transactions include many important considerations for all the parties, even if no money is passing hands. The expertise within the Technology Transfer Office will help: liabilities, warranties, indemnities (what if things go wrong?); termination (what if the development partner isn’t up to it, or starts mis-using the invention?); field of use and duration (how do you anticipate the world-order in a few years’ time?). These appear as mostly negative points, however those with experience understand the importance of anticipating things not working out; not least so others can have a go.
The TTO at Oxford University was instrumental in putting in place a consortium of organisations to develop a potential Tuberculosis vaccine candidate a few years ago. The 2009 agreements allowed for a commercial company (Emergent BioSolutions) to develop the technology and seek a return on its risk investment from use in ‘rich’ countries, whilst also supporting the deployment of the vaccine in ‘poor’ countries. Very sadly for global health the vaccine did not make it through the clinical trials; the expertise developed in addressing the challenges will help with this crisis.
It is easy to say that everything universities do related to fighting COVID-19 should be put into the public domain, freely available to all, made open-source. Much of it is, and more will be. All of it could be if the governments of the world will put enough resource into delivering every aspect of fighting the pandemic, for years to come. However, there will most likely be a need for risk finance at some stage. Universities should be generous and are being so. And they should share appropriately in the commercial success of others; money universities receive is then re-invested in further research and teaching. TTOs have learned lessons from the Easy Access IP revolution of 2010 – sometimes make it freely available, with a simple agreement to manage the key non-financial issues.
It is easy to say the money doesn’t matter; but it always does one way or another. The UK government will struggle to boost university research funding and the Higher Education Innovation Fund to necessary and desirable levels in coming decades; the world will be paying for the economic costs of this crisis as well as the human tragedy.
Technology Transfer Offices
The crisis creates real challenges for the leaders of TTOs, one of which is looking after the welfare of staff.
All of the staff in the TTO will be coping with our ‘new normal’ of social distancing, social distancing, social video etc. Some will be experiencing additional anxiety, stress and depression. It is a people business, and the people need to be looked after. Leaders need to show leadership; sharing the truth is particularly important in a crisis, answering questions as openly and fully a possible, anticipating questions and providing truthful answers. Sharing the truth will help staff understand what the plan is and will help the leaders reduce their burden of responsibility. It is not your fault, it is an external threat, not an internal weakness. It may have been on the risk register, but it was never going to …..
TTO leaders also need to consider where to focus efforts, with staff dispersed to their homes and uncertainty how long this crisis, in its various forms, may last. The likelihood of concluding new deals seems low to me, unless they are coronavirus related. You may be able to sign-off on deals that have been under negotiation for a while. Securing and maintaining patent positions seems very important. The world will be very forgiving of coronavirus related delays, but you cannot be sure this will extend to patent office deadlines and securing priority dates. File the new patent applications you would anyway, and make sure you are on top of patent office deadlines and renewal dates.
And then there’s planning for annual budgets. Universities will be very strapped for cash this year, next year, longer, they always are, and this crisis will hit hard, largely due to student fees not coming in. Priorities will be teaching and research, as they should be, with the ‘third thing’ which includes technology transfer staying at the back of the queue. Human nature suggests that patent budgets and proof-of-concept pots will be cut before people are laid-off, let go, or furloughed as Stanford educated Chancellor Sunak has it. These things are in balance, however; TTO leaders need to keep an appropriate balance of project managers, patent budget and proof-of-concept support to enable research outputs to be transferred out under appropriate terms. Good luck.
University research and university technology transfer matter in overcoming the Coronavirus Crisis.
In the UK, researchers at the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College produced the report which finally persuaded the government to get serious about the crisis. Radio and TV channels are full of expert commentary from university academics across virology, epidemiology, history, psychology, engineering. In the US, the Johns Hopkins University Centre for Systems Science and Engineering is leading the world in COVID-19 case and death data collection and presentation. Well-funded high-quality research universities are a major national asset.
Cambridge University, together with the Wellcome Sanger Institute, is coordinating the collaboration between expert groups across the UK to analyse the genetic code of COVID-19 samples circulating in the UK giving public health agencies and clinicians a unique, cutting-edge tool to combat the virus.
Oxford University is one of the key national centres for vaccine research, leading development and trials of a vaccine candidate against the virus. Engineers, anaesthetists and surgeons from Oxford and King's College London are working on a new ventilator – OxVent – less advanced than existing commercial models but relatively quick to construct. Oxford’s research centre in Suzhou, China has developed a rapid testing technology for COVID-19, taking about 30 minutes and not requiring complicated instrumentation.
University research outputs such as these will be transferred out from the universities into other organisations (government agencies, charities and for-profit businesses) better placed to develop, design, manufacture and deliver products and services to help people.
The expertise and experiences developed over recent decades amongst university researchers and within university technology transfer offices will help make this happen fast and effectively. This need not be about money at all; but some of it maybe, and that is ok.
University researchers now have more experience of collaborative endeavours involving business. Researchers have seen colleagues engage successfully with businesses, small and large, and enhance not damage academic careers. These days University people know industry people: the researchers know each other; the research development managers know the business development managers; the CEOs know the Vice-Chancellors. Thousands of research collaboration and commercialisation agreements have been negotiated and signed. The mechanics of getting the necessary arrangements in place is well understood.
The fact that university-business interactions have increased massively in recent decades and the mechanics of concluding effective transactions are well-understood will help. Existing university spin-out companies are working on technology solutions in diagnostics, equipment and vaccines. The fact that universities are far improved in helping establish these companies and the volume of early stage investment finance has increased massively are helping. University technology transfer offices can file patent applications and then allow the right organisations to use the inventions to develop the products and services to benefit people.
The use of patent rights to protect inventions that may be used to address aspects of the Coronavirus crisis will be criticised. Patent rights allow owners to prevent some and allow others to use inventions, over a long period of time. Governments have rights to intervene to make patent rights available in exceptional circumstances such as these, should this be necessary. A sense of shame, embarrassment and reputation management is more likely to lead to patent owners making inventions available without seeking profits to address the crisis; if not, governments can step in.
What about the money?
University technology transfer is not about the money. The number one priority has always been to transfer technologies, and other research outputs, for development into products and services that can help people. Making money comes further down the list of priorities; it is reasonable for universities to share in the commercial success of university research outputs.
Allowing other organisations to use your patent rights is not only about money; licensing transactions include many important considerations for all the parties, even if no money is passing hands. The expertise within the Technology Transfer Office will help: liabilities, warranties, indemnities (what if things go wrong?); termination (what if the development partner isn’t up to it, or starts mis-using the invention?); field of use and duration (how do you anticipate the world-order in a few years’ time?). These appear as mostly negative points, however those with experience understand the importance of anticipating things not working out; not least so others can have a go.
The TTO at Oxford University was instrumental in putting in place a consortium of organisations to develop a potential Tuberculosis vaccine candidate a few years ago. The 2009 agreements allowed for a commercial company (Emergent BioSolutions) to develop the technology and seek a return on its risk investment from use in ‘rich’ countries, whilst also supporting the deployment of the vaccine in ‘poor’ countries. Very sadly for global health the vaccine did not make it through the clinical trials; the expertise developed in addressing the challenges will help with this crisis.
It is easy to say that everything universities do related to fighting COVID-19 should be put into the public domain, freely available to all, made open-source. Much of it is, and more will be. All of it could be if the governments of the world will put enough resource into delivering every aspect of fighting the pandemic, for years to come. However, there will most likely be a need for risk finance at some stage. Universities should be generous and are being so. And they should share appropriately in the commercial success of others; money universities receive is then re-invested in further research and teaching. TTOs have learned lessons from the Easy Access IP revolution of 2010 – sometimes make it freely available, with a simple agreement to manage the key non-financial issues.
It is easy to say the money doesn’t matter; but it always does one way or another. The UK government will struggle to boost university research funding and the Higher Education Innovation Fund to necessary and desirable levels in coming decades; the world will be paying for the economic costs of this crisis as well as the human tragedy.
Technology Transfer Offices
The crisis creates real challenges for the leaders of TTOs, one of which is looking after the welfare of staff.
All of the staff in the TTO will be coping with our ‘new normal’ of social distancing, social distancing, social video etc. Some will be experiencing additional anxiety, stress and depression. It is a people business, and the people need to be looked after. Leaders need to show leadership; sharing the truth is particularly important in a crisis, answering questions as openly and fully a possible, anticipating questions and providing truthful answers. Sharing the truth will help staff understand what the plan is and will help the leaders reduce their burden of responsibility. It is not your fault, it is an external threat, not an internal weakness. It may have been on the risk register, but it was never going to …..
TTO leaders also need to consider where to focus efforts, with staff dispersed to their homes and uncertainty how long this crisis, in its various forms, may last. The likelihood of concluding new deals seems low to me, unless they are coronavirus related. You may be able to sign-off on deals that have been under negotiation for a while. Securing and maintaining patent positions seems very important. The world will be very forgiving of coronavirus related delays, but you cannot be sure this will extend to patent office deadlines and securing priority dates. File the new patent applications you would anyway, and make sure you are on top of patent office deadlines and renewal dates.
And then there’s planning for annual budgets. Universities will be very strapped for cash this year, next year, longer, they always are, and this crisis will hit hard, largely due to student fees not coming in. Priorities will be teaching and research, as they should be, with the ‘third thing’ which includes technology transfer staying at the back of the queue. Human nature suggests that patent budgets and proof-of-concept pots will be cut before people are laid-off, let go, or furloughed as Stanford educated Chancellor Sunak has it. These things are in balance, however; TTO leaders need to keep an appropriate balance of project managers, patent budget and proof-of-concept support to enable research outputs to be transferred out under appropriate terms. Good luck.
University research and university technology transfer matter in overcoming the Coronavirus Crisis.