The Tto, A University Engine Transforming Science Into Innovation

ADVICE PAPER
No.10

- JANUARY 2012

THE TTO,
A UNIVERSITY ENGINE TRANSFORMING SCIENCE INTO INNOVATION
KOENRAAD DEBACKERE

LEAGUE OF EUROPEAN RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES
Universiteit van Amsterdam - Universitat de Barcelona - University of Cambridge - University of Edinburgh - AlbertLudwigs-Universität Freiburg - Université de Genève - Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg - Helsinginyliopisto (University of Helsinki) - Universiteit Leiden - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven - Imperial College London - University College London - Lunds universitet - Università degli Studi di Milano - Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München University of Oxford - Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris - Université Paris-Sud 11 - Université de Strasbourg Universiteit Utrecht - Universität Zürich

AuthorThe author of the paper is: Prof. Koenraad Debackere (K.U.Leuven) LERU thanks the wider community of Technology Transfer Officers and Vice-Rectors for Research in its member universities and other experts who provided valuable input for the paper and comments during the drafting process. The LERU Research Policy Committee and Rectors generously contributed their advice.

THE TTO, A UNIVERSITYENGINE TRANSFORMING SCIENCE INTO INNOVATION

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Industry-science links have become a key dimension in both innovation management and innovation policy. In this paper, it is argued that the growth and the development of academic Technology Transfer Organizations (TTO’s) which support those links deserve careful attention, thus articulating the critical success factors that enablethe deployment of effective TTO operations. In doing so, LERU wants to contribute to a better understanding of the fundamental role of the TTO in the process of translating the results of academic research into a form which can be more readily adopted by industry and commerce. In this advice paper, a set of insights are presented that can underpin universities’ TTO deployment. First of all,university leadership should provide the TTO with the necessary level of governance autonomy, strategic flexibility and financial autonomy within the (traditional) university structures. The autonomy and flexibility are illustrative of the respect and understanding that academic leadership (and by extension, the academic community) has towards the inner, proper logic governing industry-scienceinteractions. Flexibility and autonomy should be implemented in a pragmatic manner, taking into account structure and process that best fit the university’s specific institutional context. Second, it is important that the academic TTO function can operate in an external environment that fully supports industry-science links, including a proper legal framework for universities to engage in technologytransfer activities and clear, transparent rules as to the ownership of intellectual property rights. Since the vast majority of (European) universities operate within the space of public funding, it is imperative that public authorities create a legal environment that is conducive to and facilitates the transfer of research results from the public funding space in which they originate to the marketspace. Furthermore, it is necessary to articulate the expectations of all stakeholders towards the objectives pursued by technology transfer activities (e.g. job creation, contribution to the university’s income, translation of research results for the broader public good, etc.). Third, the TTO will install appropriate incentive and code-of-conduct schemes for the academic community, stimulating,but also monitoring, the technology transfer activities and behaviours of the researchers. These schemes have to be approved and accepted by the university’s leadership. Fourth, the leadership of the TTO should consider integrating or aligning front- & back-office operations. Through its governance autonomy, the TTO has the degrees of freedom necessary to achieve this managerial integration....