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NETWORK T2 Launches
Virtual Bundling Agent
By Lori Martin, Larta VOX Editor
It is a winning formula:
Seventeen of California's leading sources of innovation working together
with the intention of providing a streamlined methodology for technology
transfer. Sounds simple, yes. But easy? Thanks in part to a grant from
the Ewing Kauffman Foundation, Network T2 is making it easier.
Network T2 is a consortium
of 17 leading California universities and research institutions, with
a combined annual R&D budget of over $2.5 billion, and over a dozen
affiliates including major industry players. Larta Institute formed Network
T2 in 2002 in an initial effort to generate dialogue amongst leading research
institutions and between research institutions and industry. Under the
management of Larta Institute and in response to the overwhelming support
of its members, Network T2 involves the very people who work in technology
transfer - on both the supply and demand side - to concretely define the
challenges facing their commercialization infrastructures and then build
intelligent, research- and experience-based programs to collaboratively
overcome those challenges.
In 2002, Network T2
focused its efforts on establishing Project T2, its annual conference
on commercialization that has become one of the leading events in the
field. In recent years, Larta Institute and Network T2 members have also
focused on developing a slate of hands-on pilot programs.
"Once we realized
there were common problems facing the transfer infrastructures of these
diverse institutions, we put our heads together to leverage the atmosphere
of trust and collaboration in Network T2 into programs that would overcome
these problems for everyone at the same time," says Steven Klein,
Development Director for Larta Institute. "We were pleased to find
that one of our program ideas - to create shared deal platforms and a
centralized transfer process for IP or pools of IP owned by multiple institutions
- fit with the aims of the Kauffman Foundation, which has enabled us to
pilot this innovative idea here in Southern California towards a future
roll-out in the broader transfer marketplace."
The new program is
called Virtual Bundling Agent (VBA), and is the first in a series of programs
that will be implemented to support the technology transfer process by
directly targeting one or two specific commercialization challenges shared
amongst multiple Network T2 institutions. Thanks to the leadership of
The Kauffman Foundation, VBA is now ramping up and will begin full implementation
in September.
VBA's process will:
(1) work with participating Network T2 members to create a shared back-end
deal skeleton for any "virtual bundles" represented by VBA;
(2) create "virtual bundles" of compatible IP owned by multiple
institutions, both by reviewing the results of multi-university research
projects and by reviewing general IP to find compatibility; (3) proactively
market these "virtual bundles" through industry events and targeted
matchmaking modeled on Larta Institute's existing commercialization facilitation
programming; and (4) assist the back-end deals resulting from any interest
in "virtual bundles," both by basing all deals on the agreed-upon
deal skeleton and by keeping Larta Institute as an active third-party
facilitator. In addition, Larta Institute will carefully document all
VBA processes and results to learn as much as possible from this pilot
implementation.
"University research
faculty have the capability of prolific innovation, and the interest in
collaboration among California's technology transfer offices will provide
a great support system for these innovations," says Lesa Mitchell,
vice president of Advancing Innovation for the Kauffman Foundation, which
has provided a grant for developing the VBA program. "Entrepreneurship
in this country is a result of our ability to turn innovative ideas into
businesses. The Foundation is interested in supporting the development
of new practices that will further enable the innovation pathway."
The 2005 Project
T2 conference, to be held November 8 in Los Angeles, will discuss and
explore the most current issues surrounding technology transfer provide
and will provide a broader platform than previous Project T2 conferences
because it will include national and international universities, not just
those from Southern California.
The members of Network
T2 are the leaders of technology transfer at the following universities
and nonprofit research institutions: Caltech, UC Los Angeles, UC Riverside,
UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, UC Santa Cruz, USC, Loma Linda University,
UC Irvine, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State San Bernardino,
Caltech, Cedars Sinai, City of Hope Medical Center, Keck Graduate Institute
and Pepperdine University.
The affiliates of
Network T2 are leaders of technology transfer and licensing at the following
companies and industry organizations: BD Biosciences, Pharmingen, DuPont,
Genzyme, Invitrogen, Johnson & Johnson Consumer, Latham & Watkins,
Monitor Group, Morrison & Foerster, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Southern
California Edison and Tech Coast Angels.
The Ewing Marion Kauffman
Foundation of Kansas City is a private, nonpartisan foundation that works
with partners to advance entrepreneurship across America and improve the
educational achievement of children and youth. The late entrepreneur and
philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman established the Kauffman Foundation
in the mid-1960s. More information is available at www.kauffman.org.
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