Technology Transfer at Michigan State University

Michael Poterala, Executive Director of MSU Technologies came and talked to us on Friday, 13th February 2008. The topic on hand was about technology transfer at Michigan State University. The technology transfer policies at MSU has moved from purely patenting all inventions, to also marketing the inventions to industry.

Once a faculty member gives a disclosure to the Technologies Office, it is the office's job to asses, and ultimately market the technology. First a tech manager checks to see whether the documentation requirements have been met.

Once the requirements have been met, the technology itself is given to external consultants to screen and assess. These consultants (which costs approximately $1400) determines the available market, the barrier to entry, and also the uniqueness of the solution. The consultants then gives a recommendation, whether to continue to market, to get some more data, or perhaps to stop marketing altogether.

By using these external consultants, the office can save money on patents as they will not pursue patents that are worthless.

Currently startup development is not yet supported and is still being discussed do to the limited resources available to the office.

Apart from technology, other copyrighted work must also be handled in the technologies office. Faculty controls copyright for most academic publications. However MSU controls the copyright for works from funded research or commissioned by MSU.

An interesting aspect is that the copyright for student work (including for courses taken at MSU) according to the policies is owned by the student and not by MSU.

Contributors: Reza Ferrydiansyah