As the United States transitions into the new presidential administration (and the rest of the innovation world prepares for the changes that ensue), technology transfer offices find themselves in an interesting position. The year of 2025 will likely bring some major shifts in how the US government engages with corporate and institutional innovation—but the challenges that plague TTOs remain the same.
You’re still going to deal with lots of cases (and probably a lot more). You’re still going to deal with the pressures of staying compliant, getting inventions out into the world, and keeping up with the various deadlines and milestones associated with managing intellectual property.
So what kinds of changes should a TTO prepare for—and how should you prepare for them?
How tech commercialization is likely to shift
The new presidential administration in the USA is keen on investing in innovation—which means we can expect some shifts not only in available public funds, but also changes in the ways research industries access opportunities.
Changes in Funding Focus
It’s reasonable to assume that a new administration will bring new innovation priorities. This may involve increases in available funds for innovation in certain sectors (like energy, healthcare, space exploration, and cybersecurity) and decreases for others (like environmental sustainability).
One thing speculators seem to be sure about is that the new administration will place an emphasis on domestic innovation. Grant funding, therefore, will likely flow to research institutions who develop technologies that decrease American dependencies on foreign suppliers and increase job opportunities for American citizens.
We don’t know specifically what’s going to take place in 2025, but we expect the US government to generally increase their investments in innovation. And with more funding up for grabs, we expect the competition between research institutions for those funds to grow more intense.
Changes in Tech Scouting Practices
As government investment shifts, we expect corporate activities to shift too. Enterprise corporations will seek out technologies that allow them to take advantage of new tax incentives, win US government contracts, and compete in the emerging innovation landscape.
Shifts in corporate interests will bring about changes for research institutions. On a grand scale, this is good news for researchers: more enterprise interest in emerging technologies means more partnership opportunities, a smoother tech commercialization pipeline, and more income from licensing agreements.
However, this will also likely result in changes to individual technology transfer office workloads. More enterprises seeking out partners means more case initiations. And if startups also begin seeking new technologies, there’s the issue of more accounts in the TTO’s inbox who don’t have established processes for forming and maintaining agreements with institutions.
Changes in how the game is played
Perhaps the most significant shift we expect to take place over the next year is in how the game of technology commercialization is played. As competition heats up between corporate players, companies will make more investments in developing connections and partnerships with research institutions. If the US government relaxes technology commercialization regulations, universities may find themselves in a completely new world of wheeling and dealing.
How to prepare your tech transfer office
These shifts can mean good news for your research institution—but they also represent increasing pressure. Navigating the world of technology commercialization in 2025 will be challenging, but there are things your technology transfer office can do now to prepare for these shifts.
1. Understand your constraints
Most technology transfer offices are understaffed and overworked—and if 2025 brings a new surge in potential corporate partnerships, this problem will only become more pronounced. In order to prepare, you and your TTO team need to have an idea of what you can reasonably take on in the year ahead with the resources you have. Taking inventory of your constraints will be useful on several fronts.
First, understanding your constraints will help with planning for the months ahead. If you know what resources you have available and what tasks are already on your to-do list, you can more easily assign priority levels, timelines, and case managers.
Second, mapping out your office’s capacity can be helpful in making the case for expanding headcount and budget. Creating a quantitative view of your TTO’s capabilities gives decision makers a clearer idea of what any increases to your budget will contribute to the organization’s ability to commercialize inventions.
Thirdly, this will help you and your TTO triage cases and focus efforts on the tasks that can make meaningful differences for your institution. It’s common for every case to be treated with a sense of immediate urgency—but this diffuses your office’s energy and makes it difficult to leverage what resources you have to make the greatest impact. Understanding your office’s limitations is the first step in ensuring that you’re operating as effectively as you can.
2. Seek out leadership with innovation experience
As the corporate world becomes more competitive about discovering and implementing emerging technologies, more research institutions are hiring leaders who understand the world of corporate innovation. Universities have already begun hiring chief innovation officers to their leadership teams and tasked them with finding entrepreneurial ways to get their inventions into the world.
A leader with innovation experience can contribute a great deal to the way your institution interacts with outside parties, and this will be especially true as more enterprises and startups scout for technology partners. Well-connected leaders can expedite exploratory conversations and strengthen relationships between parties quickly. Because many CINOs come from corporate backgrounds, they understand the workings of the businesses your TTO engages. This means innovation leaders can help by making key introductions, optimizing the case management process for potential partners, and negotiate the terms of licensing agreements.
Innovation veterans can also execute change management within the institution, increasing both efficiency and effectiveness around the technology commercialization process. Experienced innovation leaders can examine your TTO’s constraints and find ways to accomplish more with less. They can evaluate performance in more meaningful ways, because they have a better understanding of the work being done. And they’re more likely to recognize, hire, and promote talented team members within the organization.
3. Expand your team's bandwidth with software
For most TTOs, the process of getting approval for hiring new people isn’t easy—and in some cases, it’s not even remotely possible. So if the technology commercialization work increases and headcount doesn’t, what can you do?
One way that TTOs deal with this is by investing in purpose-built tech transfer software solutions. Systems (like Sophia and Evolve) automate the majority of the TTO’s clerical work surrounding cases, which mitigates human error and allows the people on your team to focus on the work that only humans can do. These tools do the heavy lifting when it comes to invention disclosures, IP case docketing, compliance reporting, and knowledge management—freeing up weeks of your team’s time.
Choosing a tech transfer software system is a big decision, and the process of vetting a system, getting the green light, and implementing the technology can take years. So if you want to prepare your TTO for the future of technology commercialization, it’s smart to start exploring software options now.
Future proof your TTO
Your TTO faces lots of opportunities in 2025—but you also face a lot of extra work. One of the best ways you can prepare for success is by setting your office up with a system that manages the busywork for you based on what your particular office needs.
This is one of the reasons Sophia is the leading TTS on the market today: it’s a fully configurable system. We’ll set you up with the software capabilities that will help you navigate the pressures of tech commercialization your way—every Sophia customer gets a solution tailored to the needs of their TTO (and any other internal innovation stakeholders), no matter the institution’s size.
The next generation of tech transfer software is on the horizon as well. Wellspring recently announced the launch of Evolve. Built on Sophia’s trusted foundation, Evolve took the best of Sophia and supercharged it. Check out the details of Evolve in the press-release.
If you’d like to explore how Sophia and Evolve can help your TTO prepare for 2025, we’re happy to learn about your situation and show you how we’ve done the same for similar organizations. Schedule a discovery call with us today!