Utilizing Equity Crowdfunding to Facilitate Faster Technology Transfer for Colleges and Universities that Want to Promote Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Streamlining University Technology Transfers
Most major universities have a Technology Transfer Office (TTO) or Technology Licensing Office (TLO) that provides information via a technology licensing website that details policies, disclosure procedures and staff contact information. However, the bulk of educational sites in the United States focus much more on providing material to researchers within the university and to outside investors.
With a few exceptions, many of them provide little useful information to external audiences regarding how the college or university is doing at stimulating technology transfer and commercialization for technology being developed by the school’s R&D departments.
Technology transfer is the process of transferring scientific findings from one organization to another for the purpose of further development and commercialization. The process typically includes:
- Identifying new technologies
- Protecting technologies through patents, copyrights and other IP
- Forming development and commercialization strategies such as marketing and licensing to existing private sector companies or creating new startup companies based on the new technology
Equity Crowdfunding can help schools move away from the highly ineffective TTOs, which are notorious for their laborious processes and red tape that tend to put more technology in a dusty warehouse than into a real world business practice. There is a true need to move away from short-term licensing and royalty agreements utilized by most schools and migrate toward long-term equity investment strategy that can generate billions of dollars in revenue versus short-term millions.
Creating an Equity Crowdfunding Ecosystem is an excellent way to provide students, faculty, alumni and the local community with opportunities to begin investing in a college’s or university’s future.
According to an article entitled “Improving University Technology Transfer and Commercialization” by Darrell M. West, universities are only earning around $2.5 billion in licensing fees on a federal investment of approximately $90 billion per year. The article highlights why schools should consider policy and operational changes that would improve their disclosure and rate of return for all of their research and development projects for a wide variety of reasons.
Equity crowdfunding represents the best way to streamline the process of creating new businesses from within a university’s various colleges. Students need to enjoy a superior educational experience while actually going through the process of launching startup business ventures that can give them the power to steer their own career path and create immense circles of wealth for everyone involved.
Most top universities are now setting up Innovation Labs and Entrepreneurship Centers to achieve this goal, but they usually fall short when setting up effective business incubators that provide experienced mentors and accelerator programs that actually provide the millions of dollars needed in seed investment capital to get these startups up and running. Equity crowdfunding is the best way to find startup funding without taking on too much risk for schools that need a jumpstart.
Learn more about crowdfunding:
- Building a Rewards-based and/or Equity-based Crowdfunding Ecosystem;
- Providing Easy Access to Seed Investment Capital with Crowdfunding;
- Generating More Revenue to Support Co-Working Spaces and Startups;
- Using Equity Crowdfunding Sites to Finance Incubators and Accelerators;
- Taking Advantage of Investor Syndicates that are Seeking Better Deal Flow;
- Splitting Revenue from Incubator and Accelerator Mentors Consulting Fees;
- Streamlining Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs);
- Cross-Pollinating College Education with Real World Startups; and
- Learning to Build Better Alumni and Local Community Relationships
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