KT Managers (you) occupy a strange position in their universities. You can often be very close - almost colleagues - to the academics who you serve and who provide your ‘dealflow’ (in the form of useful technologies to take to market).
Yet you act ultimately on behalf of the universities that employ you who will often sign off on potentially large deals based on your advice and ‘due diligence’.
Moreover, you are also on the front line with third parties (businesses and venture investors) who invest in technologies (ones that you have nurtured) with the ultimate aim of making a commercial return on that investment.
95%+ of the time interests are fully aligned (post deal anyway) and there are no issues. However, very occasionally, the KT manager (you!) becomes aware of information that could conceivably result in loss of reputation or litigation. Often this happens after a deal has been signed and in ways not anticipated by the contract.
You will need to decide whether to intervene and how!
Almost always you will be tempted to do nothing on the basis that either:
In this Masterclass, Jeff Skinner describes some of the bigger ‘moral dilemmas’ that he’s encountered or observed in his 40 years in Knowledge Transfer. He puts you in his position and asks what you would do or the advice you would give to his younger self at the time.
Of course, the easiest answer in almost every case is to ‘escalate’ to a higher authority or roll in the lawyers. We will avoid such easy answers by delving more deeply into the consequences of doing nothing.
The new website signals this pioneering, resonating role and is a tribute to the many accomplishments and innovations European TTO’s have generated and implemented over many years, thus strengthening both our economy and society.
Koenraad Debackere
KU Leuven, Belgium
Most relevant, interesting and practical training I have ever had, very interactive an multi-disciplinary. It makes an IMPACT.
Edith van Lishout
KU Leuven, Belgium
ASTP brought the right structure and terminology to my knowledge of technology licensing.
René Widmer
ETH Transfer, Switzerland
This course gives an in-depth understanding on managing contract portfolio, including research contracts, license agreements, and other collaboration agreements.
Ram Siddappa
Erasmus MC, Netherlands
One very long and hard day, but very useful for my work in TTO.
Petr Kubečka
Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic
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