UNHI Licensing Manager Tim Benoit-Ledoux will be cohosting a session titled “Social Innovation and Enterprise: No Patents Required” at the 2015 AUTM Eastern Region Meeting on August 31st. The session will cover topics related to commercialization efforts around non-patentable intellectual property and services from the academic environment. These types of innovations provide a mechanism to increase revenues for the institution through attracting public and private capital, as well as providing opportunities for the creation of academic enterprises that have high potential for broad social impact.
Tim will be joined by Lisa Goble from University of North Carolina Greensboro, Dinesh Divakaran from North Carolina State University, Heidjer Staecker from TreMonti Consulting, and John Zurawski from Pepper Hamilton.
They will draw on their collective expertise in the area of non-patentable innovations to explore issues and establish best practices in commercializing these non-traditional forms of intellectual property. Particular emphasis will be placed on reviewing a variety of case studies across a spectrum of non-traditional commercialization efforts and working together to articulate commercialization possibilities and document best practices. Case studies will include: a look at a trademark that sparked the creation of a non-profit startup; a sexual assault prevention program consisting of trademarks and copyrights licensed across the globe; software startups; and other social innovations and entrepreneurial activities. We will talk about our institutions’ experiences and include an activity where groups will brainstorm commercialization path/potential & associated Technology Transfer Office (TTO) activities for a variety of case studies with non-patentable IP. This topic will be of interest to the general population of technology transfer professionals who are exploring options at their institution to commercialize non-patentable innovations, and who are supporting faculty in forming startups around these innovations.
For more information, please contact Tim Benoit-Ledoux at timothy.benoit-ledoux@unh.edu.
