Season 1 - Episode 9: Tech Transfer - Moving Ideas from University to Industry

In this episode of GuideWire, Devin Hubbard with FastTraCS talks to Jackie Quay, Director of Licensing and Innovation Support at the UNC Office of Technology Commercialization, about the basics of technology transfer. Moving good ideas out into the world where they can help others is core to the mission of FastTraCS.  

Today’s Topics Include:

• Research and Academia: Jackie’s background in biology to law school and tech transfer
• Tech Range: Biotech, medical devices, vaccines, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, software
• Tech Transfer: Ask questions, conduct research, and seek answers to solve problems
• New Idea Process: Conversations, action, publication, evaluate, and decision
• Invention Evaluation: Is it patentable and/or commercializable?
• Conflict: Publish research and graduate or commercialize and reveal trade secret
• Valley of Death: Most inventions never go far enough down one side to get up other side
• Portfolio or Startup? Best or only ways to get invention and technology to move forward
• Gap Funding: Pursue manufacturers, universities, nonprofits, and government grants
• Team Assembly: COVID may make entrepreneurs/investors consider new technologies
• Networking: Find the right people at the right time to de-risk ideas and technologies

Links and Resources:

Devin Hubbard

Jackie Quay

CRISPR

FastTraCS

GuideWire Podcast on Twitter

GuideWire Podcast

Quotes:

“All things tech transfer are driven by the economy.”

“In tech transfer, our goal is to transfer the technology that we developed, so that somebody will pick it up (usually a company) and turn it into a product that somebody can buy.”

“Protecting a trade secret in academia is a problem because if you’re going to publish your work, it’s no longer a trade secret.”

“An awful lot of inventions never make the leap across what’s called the valley of death because they haven’t gone far enough down one side to get up the other side.”