{"id":10713,"date":"2020-10-28T16:34:33","date_gmt":"2020-10-28T23:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=10713"},"modified":"2020-10-28T16:34:33","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T23:34:33","slug":"tia-where-inventions-meet-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=10713","title":{"rendered":"TIA: Where Inventions Meet Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sherylle<\/a>

Sherylle Mills Englander, photo by Daniel Dreifuss for Santa Barbara Independent.<\/p><\/div>\n

From filament LED lighting and cloud computing\u00a0to medical diagnostics, virtual reality, and everything\u00a0in between, researchers at UCSB<\/a> have played\u00a0a key role in developing technologies that improve our\u00a0lives. Tasked with building relationships between UCSB\u00a0and industry is the Office of Technology & Industry\u00a0Alliances (TIA)<\/a>, which was established in 2005 with\u00a0Sherylle Mills Englander<\/a> as director. She answered\u00a0some questions about the office\u2019s role.<\/p>\n

HOW DOES TIA WORK? <\/b>A lot of our discoveries are what\u2019s\u00a0called curiosity-based research, aimed at getting a fundamental\u00a0understanding. The more we understand\u00a0fundamentally how things work, the more innovation\u00a0we can place on top of that. A lot of the research we do\u00a0is extremely important and not necessarily ready for a\u00a0commercial partnership.<\/p>\n

CAN YOU GIVE AN EXAMPLE? <\/b>Let\u2019s say we have a new\u00a0way of sorting cells for diagnostics where we can really\u00a0quickly separate out cancer cells from any other cell\u00a0and we can do it very rapidly and very effectively, so\u00a0that\u2019s got a definite benefit. If our researchers publish in\u00a0scientific journals to let others learn about it and build\u00a0upon it, that\u2019s great; we\u2019ve given a whole new process\u00a0to the world.<\/p>\n

But if absolutely anybody can use it commercially,\u00a0that can be a disincentive for a company to develop it.\u00a0We need a company partner to invest in making that\u00a0initial discovery something that can be used in every\u00a0doctor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

SO THE SCIENCE AND THE PRODUCT ARE TWO DIFFERENT\u00a0<\/b>THINGS. <\/b>It\u2019s a very different question. How do you sort\u00a0cells quickly and rapidly without hurting them? Or\u00a0how do you build a machine for it that is going to be\u00a0affordable, reimbursable, and easy enough to use to be\u00a0in everybody\u2019s office?<\/p>\n

If we simply publish, would a company invest the\u00a0millions of dollars it takes to create a product only to\u00a0have the fundamental discovery of that product be able\u00a0to be used by competitors? Most likely not.\u00a0So to encourage it to be translated into actual commercial\u00a0products, we apply for a patent on that original\u00a0idea and then we go to a company who has a strong passion\u00a0and expertise for it. If they commit to developing\u00a0something that will benefit the public, we will give you\u00a0the exclusive access to that patent.<\/p>\n

What we\u2019re basically doing is using the intellectual property\u00a0scheme of patents and copyrights to encourage\u00a0and facilitate companies to create products and\u00a0services based on our discoveries.<\/p>\n

DOES UCSB GET COMPENSATED FOR SUCCESSES? <\/b>What\u00a0we do is called a license, effectively giving permission\u00a0for a company to use it. There are some standard deal\u00a0structures. Obviously, we require royalties. Essentially,\u00a0we want to assure that if they do succeed with the technology,\u00a0the University of California shares in that success\u00a0in a reasonable way. We are looking to make sure\u00a0our innovation and our contribution to their company\u00a0is fairly compensated, but it\u2019s structured in a way that\u00a0allows them to spend the money to develop a product\u00a0and to get it out there.<\/p>\n

HOW ABOUT THE INVENTORS THEMSELVES? <\/b>Most of our\u00a0innovations have students named as an inventor or\u00a0author because they are so active in our research. The\u00a0university will give the inventors 35 percent of our net\u00a0revenue, and they share it equally. Just because you are a\u00a0faculty member doesn\u2019t mean you get more. If there are\u00a0three inventors, they each get a third of that net revenue.<\/p>\n

Their job is to teach and to discover science, and it\u00a0takes an enormous amount of help to make that innovation\u00a0happen. So that 35 percent back is a recognition\u00a0of the effort of the effort that they are doing to take this\u00a0invention out.<\/p>\n

IS THIS A BIG MONEYMAKER? <\/b>This is not a scenario where\u00a0tons of money is coming in. The university has over\u00a012,000 active inventions. The top 25 patents earn anywhere\u00a0from 70 to 80 percent of our income in a given\u00a0year.<\/p>\n

We want our contribution to be respected, and we\u00a0want the California taxpayers to get a return on that\u00a0investment. Every bit of money we get in royalties is\u00a0reinvested to support future research at UCSB, and\u00a0we want to keep that going.<\/p>\n

SO THE MOTIVATION IS NOT THE FINANCIAL RETURN. <\/b>The\u00a0reason we are doing this fundamentally is we want our\u00a0innovations to turn into products that actually help\u00a0people.<\/p>\n

tia.ucsb.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Tech<\/a>

Tech Talk Special Issue for Santa Barbara Independent, published October 1, 2020.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Tech Talk Special Issue<\/a> for the Santa Barbara Independent<\/em><\/a>, originally published on October 1, 2020.<\/p>\n

To read the issue as it appeared in print, please click here, Tech Talk 768_10_01_20<\/a><\/p>\n

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