Matthias Kuhn: Technology transfer focuses on the commercialisation of technologies. The key question is how universities or the resulting spin-offs can successfully bring an invention from the laboratory to the market and support researchers in the area of public-private research contracts. swiTT acts as a catalyst by providing experts with the necessary knowledge and promoting networking between them and an exchange of ideas.

Technology transfer isn’t just about money, but also about making sure that innovative technologies having a real impact on the market. The greatest invention won’t have an impact if there’s no market for it. Our aim is therefore to ensure that innovations from universities and colleges are utilised by as many people as possible and have a positive impact on society. Switzerland also traditionally has a strong link between research and industry. Many start-ups here build on patented university technologies and are therefore well protected from competition. This attracts investors, as they prefer to invest in companies that have exclusive intellectual property rights to the technology.

The distinction is very important, as technology transfer focuses on spin-offs.

Start-ups are new companies that are founded by students or employees of a research institution. They may commercialise any products or services. Start-ups may benefit from the university infrastructure (e.g. machines, analytical tools, personnel, networks), but they don’t necessarily do so.

Spin-offs, on the other hand, are companies that specifically commercialise technologies from the institution’s research laboratories. Their founders have often discovered these inventions themselves and use them under exclusive or non-exclusive licences covering university intellectual property or know-how. A spin-off therefore has university DNA. Spin-offs emerge directly from the research institution and continue to maintain close relationships with their parent institution after leaving it. 

The technology transfer offices at universities face several challenges. The biggest one is bringing innovations to the market at an early stage. This is a complex field with many issues such as communication, law, marketing and finance. It’s also important to negotiate licence contracts with fair conditions with companies that want to use the technology. In addition, universities must manage patent portfolios with limited financial resources. The focus is on promising technologies. Less promising inventions are abandoned.

This is done via research contracts. These regulate such matters as who owns which rights to the resulting technologies and under which conditions the spin-off is authorised to use them. Contracts avoid the inappropriate use of university resources by the spin-off. University infrastructure is primarily available to researchers (undergraduate students, PhD students, post-docs, etc.). 

The protection of inventions is a central component of technology transfer. A patent secures the commercial utilisation of an invention after it has been licensed to a company by the university. Companies that are interested in the new technology want a certain degree of security and exclusivity to protect the investments they make in developing and commercialising the technology. This is guaranteed by the intellectual property protection. Patent, trade mark and other intellectual property right licences make spin-offs more attractive to investors. They create a temporary monopoly which decreases risks and facilitates commercialisation. The protection ultimately also gives spin-offs a stronger market position.

Firstly, the researcher must report the invention to the institution. Technology transfer offices then check whether there is a market for the invention. If so, they analyse its patentability by carrying out a patent search. If the invention fulfils the patenting criteria (novelty, inventiveness, industrial applicability), they file the patent and start searching for interested companies. This can be done through publications, direct contact or trade fairs. If a company wants to use the invention, a licence agreement is negotiated. The company is then authorised to use the invention in return for a fee. In most cases, the licence fee is linked to sales.

Researchers often publish their results too early, i.e. before a patent has been applied for. Inventors are frequently under pressure to publish their work quickly. This has serious consequences, because as soon as an invention is publicly known, it can no longer be patented. Another mistake is applying for patent protection for an invention too quickly, i.e. before the technology has matured. Take for example, a researcher who wants to attend a conference in the near future and is keen to talk about his new discovery. He therefore wants to file the patent application before the event. However, a premature application can lead to the patent not offering sufficient protection later on. ‘Premature’ means that not enough data has been collected to provide evidence that the invention works.

The importance of software and AI has increased enormously in recent years. Software can’t always be patented, but it’s protected by copyright. Another growing field is the licensing of data, particularly in areas such as medicine and machine learning.

A big one. Digital technologies are developing rapidly at Swiss universities. As a result, more and more licence agreements include non-patented intellectual property, such as copyrights and data. Data transfer agreements are becoming more important in technology transfer, as strategic data, such as hard-to-access data, is increasingly considered valuable. Nevertheless, digital technologies can still be patented and licensed. One challenge is to patent them in such a way that not only methods but also products are protected.