Technology Transfer Information

Technology Transfer at SUNY Geneseo

Technology transfer has several definitions, but the one that applies to public institutions of higher education is public-private technology transfer. This refers to the results of research conducted at colleges and universities (or government laboratories) transferred to private companies. The Bayh-Dole Act enables universities and other research organizations to license out technologies developed with federal funding. Since 1980, tech transfer has become a growing source of revenue for institutions of higher education, and the professors who developed the technology. If the technology was developed with funding from the federal government, U.S. law strongly encourages the public institution to transfer the technology to a private firm for commercialization.

Privately owned companies invite the transfer of technologies from institutions of higher education because it could be cheaper, faster, and easier to cultivate products or processes based on existing technology than to invent it themselves. Transferring technology may also be necessary to avoid a patent infringement. Companies may want to acquire a technology developed at a college or university that makes it possible to commercialize a technology the company already possesses. 

SUNY encourages technology transfer for economic development reasons (to create jobs, for example), to develop an alternate source of funding, and to establish a relationship with a company that could benefit the institution, the state, or society.

The Research Foundation for SUNY Office of Innovation and Partnerships

Since SUNY Geneseo is a comprehensive college, our technology transfer support is provided by The Research Foundation for SUNY’s (RF) Office of Innovation and Partnerships (OIP). The RF will assist faculty and staff from disclosure through patenting the technology and developing an effective plan for management and entrepreneurship from lab to market.

The RF Office of Innovation and Partnerships has a complete website devoted to the Technology Transfer process.  Additional resources on the RF Tech Transfer website includes this Information for Inventors  page.  They have also produced helpful videos including detailed Tech Transfer Basics video (41:16) to explain the Tech Transfer process.  Another useful video is Technology Transfer and Finance 101 (Start at 15:30).

The Technology Transfer Process

The first step is to submit a New Technology Disclosure form to the RF.  Instructions and the link to the SUNY Inventor Portal (through which you can submit your disclosure) are found on the RF Office of Innovations and Partnerships Information for Inventors webpage.

Following disclosure, RF Office of Innovation and Partnerships staff will assist with subsequent steps including evaluation of your discovery, invention, software app or other work of authorship, intellectual property protection, customer discovery, marketing, partnering, and product development. 

 SUNY technology transfer process diagram

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