Marketing is important in securing a license for a new technology, and your best marketer is you!  A large majority of licensees originally were contacts from the inventor. Conferences, poster sessions, trainings, and past schoolmates or colleagues are all excellent sources of potential licensees for university technologies.  USC Stevens Innovation Advancement team will also conduct a marketing campaign for available technologies following the procedure listed below.

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Advancements in research often require collaborations that exchange and share confidential research ideas, data, and sometimes materials between researchers in different institutions or companies. To protect the confidential information being shared, researchers, institutions, and companies use a Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA). This agreement is also often referred to as Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) or Confidentiality Agreement. This agreement legally binds the recipient of the confidential information to maintain confidentiality. In the event of transferring proprietary materials, a Material Transfer Agreement is utilized to ensure the proper use of the material by the other party and manage intellectual property rights.

A company is interested in my technology….now what?

The Business Development and Licensing Associate assigned to your USC file must manage all license negotiations with any potential licensee to ensure compliance with sponsors and to ensure that no conflicting rights are granted. Each USC file will have a customized licensing strategy determined by the technology and the respective industry, the state of the technology, the potential licensees, and potential impact on the market.

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One of the USC Stevens Institute’s objectives in commercialization of USC technologies is to generate royalty income. The Innovation Advancement team balances the negotiation for revenue with USC’s research and education mission and market limitations. 

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A Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) is a research contract between a provider and recipient of research materials which governs the terms and conditions under which the research material may be used.  MTAs are not encumbered with research funding, but in return for the provision and use of the materials, providers often require certain considerations in return.   An MTA protects the intellectual and other property rights of the provider, and generally addresses other issues in material transfers such as publication, limitation on the use of the research materials, inventions and results from the use of the research material, indemnification and liability issues. 

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USC receives approximately $500 million per year in sponsored research funding.  The office of Contracts and Grants is responsible for the negotiations, maintenance, and record keeping associated with sponsored research agreements at USC, but sponsor collaborations often lead to much more beyond the initial agreement. USC Stevens Institute strives to protect the intellectual property rights of USC researchers while maintaining healthy research collaborations with industry. Grant information associated with a new technology is collected and examined by our licensing team at the time of invention disclosure. USC Stevens Institute can also provide intellectual property guidance as a sponsored research agreement is being negotiated to help protect researchers rights. Our office works closely with the Department of Contracts and Grants to ensure that USC researchers continue to cultivate successful sponsored research projects.

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