WHERE TO BEGIN

1. Keep a permanent record of all of your ideas, improvements, and experimental results.
2. Report any possible inventions to the University by completing an Invention Disclosure Form .
3. Submit the form to the Technology Transfer Office .
4. At a future date, the Patent Review Committee will evaluate your invention. You will need to present a 20 minute PowerPoint presentation to them with a general overview of the invention but concentrating on the commercial possibilities of the invention. Patent protection will cost the university about $25,000 just for protection in the US alone, therefore, any invention will need a strong marketing possibility to justify the investment.
5. If your invention is approved for patent protection, the Technology Transfer Office will work to have a Patent Attorney assigned to you. You will work closely with this attorney so he/she may learn every possible protectable detail of your invention and transcribe the description into legal claims.
6. Assist the patent attorney by verify that he/she has capture all aspects of your invention to give the University the broadest claims possible.
7. Keep the Technology Transfer Office and your patent attorney informed of any updates or improvements on your invention.
8. Help the Technology Transfer Office identify any companies that may be interested in licensing your invention so that they may bring it to market.
9. Review Article 28 of the Faculty Senate Bylaws so that you are knowledgeable of the university's royalty sharing program.

---

OUR WORKFLOW

The Office of Technology Transfer is your liaison to industry. Our goal is to move innovation from our inventors through a commercialization pathway that renders beneficial products in exchange for capital that is reinvested into our inventors and research programs.

The flowchart describes the important segments of our workflow. Starting with the disclosure of an invention, the office will evaluate and protect inventions to render products that can be commercialized in consideration for royalties that return investment back to the inventor, the inventor's research program, and the university.

Technology commercialization is the movement of knowledge and discoveries from the university environment to the general public. Our office serves its place in the process by identifying, developing, marketing, and protecting knowledge and discoveries for formal licensing of technology to third parties for the benefit of the local and global community.

Mouse over a segment to read more detail about it. Click on it to jump to the FAQs for that subject.