The tech transfer office determines if it makes sense to pursue a patent for the invention. They analyze whether the invention has sufficient commercial value and provides licensees with a competitive edge. It must be valuable enough to justify a company paying money to license the IP rights and fund the commercial development costs of bringing the tech to the marketplace.
The tech transfer office might find that the science is clever, sound, and well-supported by data, that the conclusions are valid, and that there is practical use for the invention. But that still might not be enough to give a company a sound competitive advantage. In that case, it wouldn’t attract commercial interest, so the office would decline to patent the invention. The publication that explains the invention then becomes the conduit to make the concepts and tech available to the rest of the world at no cost.
Even the questions posed by an investigator might be a secret. They don’t want to tip their hand and let others know what they are pursuing because they want to get a head start on the research. But at some point, they need to secure grant funding and must reveal what they are doing to receive the money.
- Are there ways to make an invention more marketable?
- Should a scientist consider the commercial viability of an invention before proceeding with their investigation?
- How far along does an invention have to be for its commercial viability to be assessed?
- What do highly commercialized inventions springing from university research have in common?