Georgia Tech Case

Technology transfer is the process by which research universities transform their discoveries to products and services that reach the general public. Translational research has grown so much since the late 1970’s that every major research university in the United States now has a technology transfer office (TTO). (Valdivia, 2013) Among these is the Office of Industry Engagement (OIE) at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). To garner a deeper understanding about the commercialization of research, I reviewed the mission, vision, and objectives of the OIE and interviewed Dr. Terry Bray, Directory of Technology Licensing. In this paper, I will summarize my findings, including the OIE’s measures of success and their biggest challenges.
Bray articulated three of the most important objectives of the TTOs at Georgia Tech. Together, they strive to “provide good customer service to the faculty, staff, and students that they serve, to protect the intellectual property that is created at Georgia Tech, and to facilitate the creation of new products and services that benefit society.” (Bray, 2016). To measure the success of this TTO, Dr. Bray stated that beyond the traditional metrics provided to the Association of University Technology Managers (such as invention disclosures, patents filed, and the number of agreements), the OIE looks at more indirect indicators. Positive press, the ability to attract new researchers, the development of start-up companies that create jobs, and other economic impacts on the state of Georgia and the greater Atlanta area are just a few of the measures of success important to the OIE. Dr. Bray was clear to express that Georgia Tech does not measure success by how much revenue the OIE brings in, and spent a significant portion of the interview lamenting the misunderstanding regarding the true purposes of the TTO. In addition to this misperception, the OIE finds managing unreasonable expectations by faculty with regards to the time required to execute agreements a great challenge. Furthermore, the OIE struggles with aligning the varying and often conflicting interests of the stakeholders they serve. However, even with these challenges, Dr. Bray is very proud of the development of faster and more efficient processes and considers the overall operations of the OIE a huge success. Based on my review of their mission, vision, and objectives and the sample listing of success stories available online (http://industry.gatech.edu/category/success-stories), I strongly agree that the Office of Industry Engagement at Georgia Tech is indeed reaching its