tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16803952837141632902012-01-21T06:11:27.616-08:00Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.comBlogger661100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-20206058090233279112012-01-19T07:11:00.000-08:002012-01-19T07:11:28.762-08:00

I'm a big fan of analogies because they can help with out of the box thinking.  The only way we move our profession forward is by experimenting with new practices with the understanding that not every experiment will work very well.  And....looking for analogies and parallels in other industries can be a great way to find out-of-the-box solutions for problems you are facing! A family member was

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-72573011271867246022012-01-04T09:21:00.000-08:002012-01-04T09:21:07.321-08:00

It'll happen to everyone in university technology commercialization at some point (if you're talented): You'll be invited to serve on a committee that is revising a University policy or drafting a white paper for a group like the Council on Government Relations. Of course, it is extra work, but it's also flattering that (a) the person organizing the committee thinks you're a thought leader in

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-63075732632943538902011-12-09T07:52:00.001-08:002011-12-09T08:22:33.259-08:00

It would be fun to see how many people in AUTM (the Association of University Technology Mangers....one of my professional associations) have had the following situation happen. 1). Meet entrepreneur.  Hear about their plans to start business with a university technology. 2). They need a deal FAST.  None of that slow shit!  FAST dammit! 3). Out of professional pride you move heaven and the

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-19922162237099043132011-12-05T12:49:00.001-08:002011-12-05T13:13:37.722-08:00

In university technology commercialization, we don't often get to find out if our technology actually "works".  Usually the technology just kinda continues to exist over a 10+ year period with the scientists ongoing research sometimes creating more questions that real "answers".  There are many reasons  for this and they've beyond the scope of this posting, but it's mostly due to the differences

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-12353503408444939822011-11-16T07:11:00.001-08:002011-11-17T06:51:43.865-08:00

Rarely do negotiations happen around an event that the public is aware of.  We sometimes see it in politics, but the best current example are the negotiations relating to a new collective bargaining agreement ("CBA") between the National Basketball Association's team owners and the players.  These CBA are the rules that govern how the NBA will function for the next 4-6 years: How long can

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-19434369263496506202011-11-15T12:59:00.001-08:002011-11-15T13:42:53.061-08:00

Anyone who spends any time talking to me knows that I think medical devices present a wonderful opportunity.  When you look at the variables affecting your ability to make money off these inventions (expense to develop, time to market, usefulness of patent protection, etc.) they come up looking pretty rosy. But.....not all medical device innovations are created the same.  I always say that the

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-86472766741121102102011-10-07T12:42:00.000-07:002011-10-07T12:42:12.799-07:00

Even as I start to get close to 40 years old, I'll still play the occasional video game.  Since I'm old(er), I'll mostly play sports video games against the computer (because I'm way too pathetic to compete with the fast-twitch reflexes of the under-25 crowd online). Almost all of these sports video games have a career mode where you can control a team like the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys,

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-82661013739532510662011-10-06T13:25:00.000-07:002011-10-06T13:25:44.398-07:00

You can tell a lot about people by how they conduct negotiations.  Do they really roll up their sleeves and try to craft a win-win scenario for the two parties or do they try to bludgeon the other party into accepting their view of the world? The bludgeon works fine for buying a car where you're finished with the relationship with the salesperson by the end of the afternoon, but technology

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-79653525094812451532011-09-29T09:01:00.000-07:002011-09-29T09:01:42.616-07:00

My father-in-law is a wonderful guy, but one thing he taught me along the way is what I call the "10% Rule".  Simply stated, he said that 10% of any group of people are jackasses.  It doesn't matter if you're talking about policemen, elementary school teachers, football players, nuns, Peace Corps volunteers, PTA members, etc.  He'd say that 10% of them are just insufferable jerks. Now clearly,

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-76116557889506343812011-09-21T10:35:00.000-07:002011-09-21T10:35:48.018-07:00

Here's a frustrating thing that all dealmaker's have dealt with at one time or another: A potential business partner that is not managing their legal counsel well. This can happen at companies big and small, but the common symptom is that the business person who is the face of the negotiations has NO deal skills.  By that, I mean they either (a) don't know how to make intelligent language

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-37341103868869764222011-09-16T08:43:00.000-07:002011-09-16T08:43:11.439-07:00

I've talked about this before, but apparently it needs to be repeated.   How about all of us contract folks just make a pact to eliminate the date lines under the signature lines on agreements? Unfortunately we have to do with because there are morons out there who cannot manage to get the same date on each copy of the agreement.  Consider the following scenario: 1) For some reason, the

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-89113928249525934192011-08-17T07:08:00.000-07:002011-08-17T11:53:46.705-07:00

Shortly after beginning my career in university technology commercialization, our technology commercialization office (TCO) underwent a big change. We moved from reporting to the Dean for Research to reporting to the chief business officer of the university. This change made us pretty unique because there aren't many TCOs with this sort of reporting structure. At the time, we engaged in a lot

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-20498075366257377282011-05-20T07:24:00.000-07:002011-05-20T08:51:32.654-07:00

One of the most common questions we get in our technology commercialization office (TCO) is, "Can you patent a new use for an existing drug?" I imagine this happens at every other TCO in the United States too.The short answer is: Yes, you usually can patent a new use for an old drug. Even if the previous patents or journal articles about the drug may allude to some of the uses you want to

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-21273338363253450162011-05-17T12:37:00.000-07:002011-05-17T13:21:05.701-07:00

There was a recent "expose" article in the May 13, 2011 edition of the Salt Lake Tribune titled, "Fits and start-ups: Is U. tech transfer flawed?". The article basically takes to task the University of Utah for pumping up their statistics for "start-up companies" over the last several years by taking credit for a number of start-ups that have no physical location, no payroll and no employees.

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-86748668124557606812011-05-04T06:09:00.000-07:002011-05-04T07:10:41.046-07:00

Like most American universities, we are trying to engage in a little belt-tightening due to the rough economy of the past few years. There are really only two ways to accomplish this. One is to could cut staffing. It is unlikely that a university would do real lay-offs, bebause you can cut staff via normal attrition. But, the most obvious way to reduce expenditures is to do less patenting. The

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-82542944894847453322011-05-03T08:07:00.000-07:002011-05-03T08:49:27.730-07:00

This will be a quick post.It is funny how work flows in cycles. Sometimes all I'm doing is working on deals... Sometimes it's all dealing with various patent applications and responses to the patent office... Sometimes it is all meetings and networking...This last week has been all about "technology evaluation" and it's led to an interesting observation.What does "public disclosure" really

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-91631222923224309332011-03-15T07:52:00.000-07:002011-03-15T13:02:41.766-07:00

It is super easy to spot the overtly "bad" academic inventors: no funding, no data, surly disposition, body odor, etc. Even a brand new technology commercialization professional can spot these jokers their first week on the job.The overtly bad inventor is also great because no one blames you for not working with him/her. Their chairperson things that he/she is a mediocre scientist --- a true "

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-13127063263632384822011-03-11T11:26:00.000-08:002011-03-11T12:38:37.987-08:00

Let's have a little story time....Once upon a time there was a research university in a town that was struggling. Like many towns across the United States, it was losing its manufacturing base and this resulted in lots of flapping jaws about "revitalization" and "biotechnology" and a "new economy." Now, at this research university there is a senior research administrator who kinda enjoyed being

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-11149446969531507812011-03-03T10:27:00.000-08:002011-03-03T11:12:50.214-08:00

I was recently asked to guest lecture on the topic of "technology evaluation" in a graduate school course.I guest lecture in various classes 3-4 times per year and every time I sit down to prepare my materials, it is always eye-opening. Sometimes pulling together a PowerPoint for students makes you look at things in a very clear light.How to approach technology evaluation?Whenever we "teach"

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-9693381090496157492011-01-21T19:49:00.001-08:002011-01-21T20:46:06.542-08:00

First, I wanted to apologize for being away from the blog for awhile. The blame really lies with the topic of this posting. I honestly have 6 half-written drafts along the same lines, but I'd get 2,000 words and 2 hours in and realize that I had a bitter sounding mess. And since this blog gets read by my boss and other people I've worked with in the past or hope to work with in the future, "

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-65720792638326879992010-11-04T05:54:00.000-07:002010-11-04T06:34:37.843-07:00

Almost a year ago, I posted in this spot a piece about whether university technology commercialization offices are too slow. As you can probably imagine, it was a slightly defensive reaction because I can a company accusing me of being......you guessed it!......"slow". This is a common thing that folks of my ilk discuss when we get together and it is always combined with the counterclaim that

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-41523442069722032602010-10-22T08:23:00.001-07:002010-10-22T11:14:38.964-07:00

This is a bit of a diversion from the sorts of high-technology topics I usually talk about in this blog. But I thought it was worth a little bit of time to say what I think is done well and what is lacking in entrepreneurial education.In most metropolitan areas around the country, there are countless groups in the government and non-profit sector who are focused on "entrepreneurship". All areas

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-41880682112686316112010-10-05T06:42:00.000-07:002010-10-05T07:51:46.196-07:00

One of my favorite things to talk about on this blog is the topic of metrics for university technology commercialization offices (TCOs). This naturally leads into the topic of bonus pay for the professionals working in TCOs. My professional association (AUTM) now does a salary survey every year or so and while I don't know the precise number, a respectable number of TCO professionals now

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-65725193659197372812010-09-29T07:05:00.001-07:002010-09-29T08:19:37.874-07:00

Being 10+ years removed from business school and working daily with Ph.D. graduate students who are considering going back to pursue an MBA, I often reflect on what MBA classes have been the most useful in my career doing technology commercialization at a university. Most of the classes fall into a category where they are primarily useful for giving me a common language with private equity

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-27588654743396247702010-09-03T06:55:00.001-07:002010-09-03T08:16:18.283-07:00

A friend recently forwarded me this brief article titled"More Evidence shows that locking up university research with patents doesn't help". I always like to see these sorts of articles because it shows how little people really understand patents and why they exist. There is a common misconception that patents are intended to be a driver of economic development and technology commercialization.

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-27668570836836117832010-08-19T11:28:00.000-07:002010-08-19T13:03:35.730-07:00

In wrapping up a few things around the office this week, I was hit in the face again with multiple instances of a huge/tremendous/gigantic pet peeve of mine: sloppy contracts.Now, I don't mean that the legal language of the agreements is sloppy. I'm speaking entirely to the actual technical execution process of the contracts themselves. This is the stuff that is akin to dressing appropriately

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-78030777771430027962010-08-12T07:55:00.000-07:002010-08-17T12:55:01.214-07:00

This morning I saw this note for an upcoming webinar from the Licensing Executives Society (http://lesusacanada.org/webinar/aug10) [Editorial note.....this webinar has since been delayed]. By way of disclosure, I'm a member of the LES (a "Certified Licensing Professional" no less) and have spoken at a number of LES meetings over the years.The topic of the webinar is the current and ongoing

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-68247860969648185662010-08-10T08:06:00.000-07:002010-08-10T10:53:55.833-07:00

Many of us in university based technology commercialization offices (TCOs) may get subtle pressure to do something to improve the economic environment of their local area by starting new companies based on technology developed at the university. It sounds like a good idea: universities are full of smart faculty with good ideas, so why should those ideas be exported to other parts of the country

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-55250489614632310542010-06-03T07:02:00.000-07:002010-06-03T12:02:54.601-07:00

I recently closed a deal with a company. Nothing huge and exciting, but a "deal" nonetheless. What should have been a happy occasion was marred a little when I found out the other party was making back-channel complaints about the length of time it took to close the deal. Of course, complaints about the "slowness" of university technology commercialization offices (TCOs) are nothing new. I've

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-82048207613189142312010-05-11T09:50:00.000-07:002010-05-11T11:14:21.235-07:00

All technology commercialization professionals know that that "technology transfer" can happen in all sorts of ways. When someone at a company reads one of our faculty member's published manuscripts and incorporates the findings into his/her corporate research......that is technology transfer. However, when the term "technology transfer" is bandied about, it typically means the kind of transfer

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-32307896762647292952010-04-22T08:49:00.000-07:002010-04-22T10:10:18.414-07:00

Yesterday I saw a posting at Wired.com that was making an assertion that patents, especially university patents, on green-tech innovations were detrimental to the use of these innovations in the developing world. The author had a suggestion that we universities perhaps pursue fewer patents on federally funded research. Obviously, I had a few issues with the authors suggestion....Patents matter

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-47862496343196598032010-04-21T11:43:00.000-07:002010-04-21T11:57:59.059-07:00

Hey everyone,I hope that everyone with an interest can find time to attend the 2010 AUTM East Region Meeting, June 7-9, 2010 at the Intercontinental Hotel Buckhead in Atlanta, GA.I've been a member of AUTM for over a decade now and while my interest in attending the national meetings is usually low, I've always enjoyed the regional meetings. The Eastern region meeting in particular is a nice

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-48477376781037660262010-04-20T12:29:00.000-07:002010-04-21T11:41:08.297-07:00

Our technology commercialization office (TCO) often gets offers to from business school professors, attorneys, etc. to offer educational sessions on topics such as "How to inject entrepreneurship into your science!" or "How to start a business!". As interesting as these topics may be, they are usually putting the cart before the horse because the #1 thing that I wish our inventors understood

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-2339306839898719922010-03-19T08:48:00.000-07:002010-03-19T09:21:15.395-07:00

In my email inbox this morning, I had a copy of an press release announcing the release of an Inventors' Bill of Rights. This was being put forward by a colleague of mine, Alan Bentley, from the Cleveland Clinic and Dr. Renee Kaswan, the founder of IPAdvocate.org. The highlights are pasted here:Students and faculty have a right to freedom of expression; the right to teach and publish their

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-59440154737149234522010-03-12T03:08:00.000-08:002010-03-16T12:22:17.356-07:00

Contracts are set in stone, correct? Right?The answer depends on whether you are the licensor of a technology or a licensee. Let me explain.....Licensors do have many ways to terminate a technology agreement: bankruptcy, failure to hit milestones, failure to provide reports, etc. However, the licensor cannot terminate a license agreement without cause. And....when they are terminating for

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-52475373759238759712010-03-04T12:29:00.000-08:002010-03-04T13:04:06.064-08:00

I recently had a confluence of things that made me have an interesting thought.Evan Bayh (D-IN) announced that he would not be running for reelection to the U.S. Senate. Of course, it was Bayh's father who put his name on the Bayh-Dole legislation that gave birth to university technology transfer as we know it, so the name "Bayh" will always catch my eye. But, in his remarks, Bayh said, "If I

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-61028120518328145552010-03-01T10:50:00.000-08:002010-03-01T11:23:14.019-08:00

I've never seen a study like this and I probably never will, but I wonder what the success rate is for universities hiring the so called "rock star" scientists?I always like to make comparisons between universities and baseball. Some of that is because I like baseball, but I also think it is a good comparison.The highest-end university faculty have a lot in common with baseball players. The

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-61090982174510537012010-02-24T07:55:00.000-08:002010-02-24T09:33:55.265-08:00

Every person who has worked a university technology commercialization office (TCO) has had this experience. A faculty member has a "invention" that could be politely described as "incompletely realized". The faculty member is pointing out a very real market opportunity, but their "invention" is probably not patentable at all. The technology manager has years of experience working in this

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-1277793308886848812010-02-09T06:51:00.001-08:002010-02-09T08:16:10.682-08:00

Lately I've interacted with more entrepreneurial and economic development groups that all want us to spin-off more start-up companies. Boost the economy! Create jobs! Yada, yada.... Some of these groups are friendly and are trying to give university technology commercialization offices (TCOs) better tools for spinning off companies. Some of these groups are essentially hostile to TCOs and

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-40951324139623157642010-02-04T06:40:00.000-08:002010-02-04T07:40:42.258-08:00

Readers of this blog will know that I started working in university technology licensing in the late 1990's. I absorbed training from a lot of sources, but (as you would imagine) the thought leaders in the field back then had started in the 1980's and early 1990's. One of the things that was drilled into my head was to be very, very, very careful about granting any sort of rights/access to

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-41595121972407840142010-01-12T10:39:00.001-08:002010-01-14T10:48:18.793-08:00

In my last post, I wanted to explore whether university technology commercialization offices (TCOs) are too slow. I don't think we are too slow (although you know what they say about opinions and everyone having one), but I thought it was worth listing some of the top reasons for delay in the negotiation of a university-industry technology license.Inexperienced deal-maker on the industry side:

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-82850045253739172752010-01-06T07:05:00.000-08:002010-01-06T12:45:13.804-08:00

I had a good holiday and spent some of it thinking about what I'd write about when I came back to this blog. Most of the things that were popping into my head had to deal with dealing with the naysayers that all TCOs face. Should I write about how important it is to have top-level support from senior management? Should I write about how the AUTM Licensing Survey is used as a tool of evil in

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-47789961856901937052009-12-15T06:42:00.000-08:002009-12-15T12:00:35.799-08:00

One of the more common questions I get is "How do you evaluate university technologies?" A lot of time is spent on just this topic at any gathering of business development types. Evaluating the technology is important, but if you do not also evaluate the scientists behind the technology you have not done a thorough job. Why is evaluating the scientist important? University-stage technologies

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-2453782649190187972009-12-11T12:45:00.000-08:002009-12-11T13:56:13.498-08:00

In my last blog post, I discussed the concept of "playing to win". My premise is that it makes more sense for universities to execute licenses with companies that are heavily biased towards larger royalty payments (and sacrificing upfront fees). My rationale is that the NPV of university-stage medical technologies is often very, very low due to the incredible risks and timeframes to bring a

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-86765584252487617762009-12-07T07:52:00.000-08:002009-12-07T08:41:31.500-08:00

Being an MBA-type, and a finance MBA at that, few things disappoint me more than that I don't routinely calculate net present values (NPV) for the technologies that I license. I don't do this because the answer is usually really depressing.Most of the inventions I work with are early-stage medical innovations. They are many years and many hurdles from the marketplace. When you do a NPV

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-626756251930359532009-12-03T07:31:00.001-08:002009-12-03T07:32:09.034-08:00

Hey all. Follow the Technology Commercialization blog on Twitter: @techcommercialBest wishes,Dean Stell

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-47970644729065168752009-12-03T06:41:00.000-08:002009-12-03T07:28:41.249-08:00

A common refrain when working on a deal is: "Let's keep this simple." That is a sentiment that can work if the deal consists of something easy like the sale of a loaf of bread, but when dealing with early-stage technology simplicity often comes at the price of a deal that works for both parties.What does "keep it simple" mean? This usually comes up when I am negotiating a deal where the other

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-64910834867130286942009-11-24T12:37:00.000-08:002009-11-24T13:14:11.451-08:00

Anyone who follows the technology sector is probably familiar with the term "patent troll". It is usually used in a pejorative fashion to describe a person or corporate entity that holds patents, has no intent or capability to bring its patented technology to the market and attempts to license its patent rights to larger companies. The most noteworthy "patent troll" news from the last few years

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-89906179888207903682009-11-18T11:07:00.000-08:002009-11-18T15:29:32.715-08:00

As recently as a week or so ago, I had posted a blog detailing the need for universities to have uniform ownership policies regarding their inventions. My thought was that having to haggle with university faculty over every single invention was an impediment to successful commercialization. I don't know that I've changed my mind that topic, but I did recently come across a couple of tid-bits

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-17156063169290628722009-11-16T08:14:00.000-08:002009-11-16T08:45:31.619-08:00

I generally don't like blogs that have a lot of generalized venting about personal annoyances. As I'm coming up with ideas for this blog, I tend to scribble them down on pieces of paper and scatter them on my desk. If something falls more into the "vent about an annoyance" than "inform" it has to wait longer to get any time. However, I was recently reminded of one of my all time pet peeves.At

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-18825461145466649632009-11-13T07:08:00.001-08:002009-11-13T07:39:52.891-08:00

Just about any city of any size in the United States with a research university is probably focused on "biotechnology" as a driver of economic development. Often this is an attempt to revitalize areas hit-hard by job losses in the manufacturing sector. I think these efforts are problematic and unlikely to realize their promises.One reason is that biotechnology companies simply do not employ

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-22416613275016030112009-11-09T06:30:00.000-08:002009-11-09T07:52:37.045-08:00

"Why aren't more technologies getting commercialized?".... This is a common question/demand from the many stakeholders of a university TCO.The simple answer is that most of the technologies just are not commercial material. But, there is an unseen factor at play too: the build-up of old inventions.When TCO's report their numbers they/we always report how many inventions they received this year.

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-7931654241553816362009-11-04T11:52:00.000-08:002009-11-04T13:54:32.182-08:00

There are few things more damaging to university technology commercialization efforts than posters and abstracts that faculty present at academic meetings. Yet, I find that faculty are not very aware of the damage caused by posters/abstracts and sometimes may even try to use premature abstracts to force the TCO to take action.Why are posters/abstracts damaging? Let me explain...One reason is

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-1029220774657612342009-11-02T11:29:00.000-08:002009-11-02T12:05:24.970-08:00

There seem to be a few voices out there suggesting that university faculty should negotiate "their own deal" regarding intellectual property with the university. Chief among these is Renee Kaswan of IP Advocate (Google Dr. Kaswan for the whole story), but there is a sense that some organizations such as the Kauffman Foundation are right behind. All this sentiment is well and good, but it

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-33020526959861745822009-10-28T06:13:00.000-07:002009-10-28T07:09:31.881-07:00

One of the most common questions I get from inquisitive students is, "How do you decide whether a specific technology should be a start-up company or licensed to an existing company?" I've been asked this question by every group of students that I've ever taught or guest lectured for: undergraduate, business, law, medical and Ph.D.The question really represents a small misunderstanding of how a

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-42044559242723519352009-10-26T07:31:00.000-07:002009-10-26T07:33:49.515-07:00

Last week I blogged about some things that university technology commercialization offices (TCOs) should keep in mind about their associated business schools. I wrote that because the two groups almost NEVER get along. At my school, we have a pretty good relationship with our B-school. I'm an alum of our B-school and learned from many of the more entrepreneurially minded professors. I've also

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-42563634799485500492009-10-22T12:28:00.000-07:002009-10-23T07:34:56.392-07:00

I recently had a discussion with a faculty inventor that left me pulling my hair out. He had an idea for a new product. All of the parts to make the product already exist, but the manufacturer just hadn't gotten the idea to build such a product. I was intrigued: a novel assembly of existing stuff to perform a useful function is a patentable concept. But, when I did some searching, I found

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-7171840330454186292009-10-22T06:01:00.000-07:002009-10-22T06:09:43.137-07:00

[Editorial Note: This was originally published on Oct 21, 2009, but due to the vagaries of the Blogger publishing software it was listed as published a week or so earlier. Apparently it will try to publish something when you first create a draft rather than when you actually hit the publish button. Sigh...]There is rarely any love lost between university Technology Commercialization Offices (TCOs

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-24869528190723887662009-10-19T03:14:00.000-07:002009-10-19T08:10:01.802-07:00

It is accepted that university technology commercialization offices (TCOs) must act, to at least some extent, in the public interest. Some of this is due to requirements under Bayh-Dole in that much of the research at universities is publicly funded and that taxpayers should enjoy the fruits of their funding. Some is due to state universities being actual agents of the state. And some is due to

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-8576743902438143652009-10-15T13:27:00.002-07:002009-10-16T05:00:20.708-07:00

It is often said of technology commercialization is that you need a pretty diverse skill set to succeed. The mantra is that you have to know about law, science and business. I think we often pat ourselves on the back a bit too much. We are pretty well rounded compared to some of the scientists we work with who are ultra-specialized (how else would they get so good in one field?), but compared

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-49952470422858058202009-10-14T18:16:00.000-07:002009-10-14T19:04:47.564-07:00

If you listen to anecdotal stories from entrepreneurs or companies, they could tell you a LOT about what they think is wrong with university technology transfer (TT). However, all the things they point (slowness, lack of business savvy, etc.) really pale next to the problem I'd like to point out: TT itself has not decided what our mission is.TT has been around for ~80 years and it has been ~30

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-70709840474843258082009-10-13T07:02:00.001-07:002009-10-13T07:34:21.420-07:00

As most of you know, when you file a provisional patent application, it expires after a year. At that point you need to file some sort of more substantial patent application to keep the patent application alive.A common strategy is to file a PCT patent application. PCT stands for Patent Cooperation Treaty. The PCT is basically a generalized international patent application that allows you to file

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-90991504062461859222009-10-12T11:14:00.000-07:002009-10-12T12:08:31.590-07:00

Many communities across the United States have identified biotechnology as a means to revitalize economies shattered by the loss of manufacturing jobs over the last two decades. However, little attention is ever paid to biotechnology patents. Yet, quality patents are vital to a thriving biotechnology industry.I have worked in academic technology commercialization since the late 1990's. Nothing

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-79166675679722225152009-08-14T05:32:00.001-07:002009-08-14T07:07:18.056-07:00

I often tell people that I had the misfortune to be trained in life sciences business development in the late 1990's. You might ask, "How could that be a bad thing? The 1990's were a period where both companies and investors were willing to invest in new technologies at a very early stage. Lots of deals were getting done. Surely that had to be a great experience?"It was a great experience,

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-38652123430725983332009-06-22T10:27:00.000-07:002009-10-16T06:06:39.719-07:00

Patents (and licenses to those patents) are the primary tool used for university technology commercialization. However, I often find that there are a lot of misconceptions about what patents are and how they work.A little history probably helps.....Patents were part of the U.S. Constitution. The basic thought behind a patent was to encourage the dissemination of knowledge so that science and

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1680395283714163290.post-30240901385346067182009-06-19T10:51:00.000-07:002009-06-19T12:49:11.840-07:00

Hello there,One of the constant challenges of my line of work is that it is pretty weird and unusual. There aren't many people doing it and thus, there isn't much that is written about it. What is written is usually garbage, but that's to be expected. Its such a niche that there is really no reason for a reporter or journalist to become that much of an expert. North Carolina is the #3 state

Dean Stellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06010941125983619030noreply@blogger.com0