University of Montana & Montana State University Tech Transfer

NREL is the only federal laboratory dedicated to the research, development, commercialization and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. Backed by 35 years of achievement, NREL leads the way in helping meet the growing demand for clean energy.

Participants in a news conference today emphasized that the venture will benefit, not just the schools, but more importantly the state.

The program calls for the schools to create teams of individuals to help both schools increase the commercialization of their research programs. The teams will focus on developing and refining ideas for boosting intellectual property, patent submission, tech transfer and community outreach efforts for university researchers.

In recent months, state and federal policy makers have launched a broad set of innovative programs aimed at accelerating technology transfer, the commercialization of government- and university-created intellectual property, or IP, through licenses and business startups.

These contracts are for "technology scouting" services designed to bridge companies to research being conducted at government and university laboratories, including those operated by NASA and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA solicits interest from companies interested in obtaining license rights to commercialize, manufacture and market the following technology. License rights may be issued on an exclusive or nonexclusive basis and may include specific fields of use.

More and more universities are determining they can no longer afford to wait, passively hoping vibrant innovation ecosystems organically emerge over the course of time. To grow, such ecosystems require resources and planning.

It is also important to recognise that the flow of knowledge is not a one way process. Maex warned that talk of technology transfer itself can be misleading. In her view, it is important to think of the two-way flow of knowledge between universities and businesses.

Establishing a multi-university network allows state universities to share resources, identify talent, and learn from one another’s commercialization strategies.

"Typically the University pays the cost of finding commercial partners, but in my case they wished us luck and sent us off to pay for the license," DeGrandpre said.

He signed a contract that outlined how he could market his patent, but he needed to pay the licensing cost and forfeit his right to royalties. The contract also directs all profits to DeGrandpre’s business, not to him.