The University of Manitoba identified the requisite of many industry partners to manage the IP originating from the research they were funding through partnerships. The University of Manitoba launched their Translational Partnership Program as an answer to this need and have realized the benefits through an increase in industrial interactions.
In short, the University of Manitoba added a new avenue for lab to marketplace by allowing industrial research partners to act as commercialization agents.
Three primary stipulations in the agreement include:
- IP Management: Faculty now had a direct say in who would ultimately be responsible for the management of their intellectual property (company or university). With both faculty and university agreement, IP management could now be fully shifted to the sponsoring company
- Rights to publish/non-commercial use: University still retains right to use license in social/non-commercial use, and faculty is allowed to publish after a review from sponsoring company/university
- Pre-negotiated royalty/equity agreements: No short-term payments to speed negotiations. In the event of new produce sales, University receives annual royalty. In the case of a process improvement, industry values improvement and pays annual royalty for life of use
Industry has responded to this program through an increase in research activity, new opportunities for student employment, and added goodwill resulting in additional donations to larger scale campus projects.
According to Darren Fast, Director of Tech Transfer, “ Since we launched Transformational Partnerships a year ago, we’ve been able to have initial discussions with more than 70 companies that has led to more than a dozen new research collaborations. These collaborations are beneficial to both the researchers and the companies. The interest by companies is very high and we anticipate growing this initiative greatly over the next few years.”.
WANT TO LEARN MORE….
Join us on February 5th: If you want to learn specifics about the Transformational Partnerships model, please join us for the discussion on February 5th as we detail this program and Tech Launch Arizona: please learn more here and join us for the event.
Showcase your U-I program: If you program would like to be added to these spotlights and showcased in future articles, or if you are a institution or stakeholder interested in these approaches, please make yourself known here
