Actively marketing inventions is often the best way to let a wide audience know about the research being done at UGA and its commercial potential. While publication and presenting at conferences is an excellent way to disseminate information about a new invention, those venues may not reach companies, investors, or entrepreneurs. Through marketing efforts, Innovation Gateway targets those parties that are most likely consider investing in a new invention for product development.

Licensing managers use many sources and strategies to identify potential licensees and market inventions. Many times, existing relationships of the researchers, the Innovation Gateway staff and other researchers are useful in marketing an invention. Marketing research can assist in identifying prospective licensees as well. We also examine other complementary technologies and agreements to assist our efforts. Innovation Gateway uses a number of outlets including Flintbox, Twitter and LinkedIn postings in order to help bring attention to new technologies.

Research and consulting are often valuable sources for identifying licensees because many licenses result from contacts already known to the inventors. Licensees are also identified through alumni, former students and existing relationships of the Innovation Gateway staff. Licensing IP to a startup company is also an option.

It can take months and sometimes years to locate a potential licensee, depending on the invention, its stage of development, competing technologies and the size and the intensity of the market. Most university inventions tend to be in the early stage of the development cycle and consequently require substantial commercialization investment, making it challenging to attract a licensee.

Your active involvement can dramatically improve the chances of matching a technology to an outside company. Your research and consulting relationships are often helpful in both identifying potential licensees and technology champions within companies. Once interested companies are identified, the researcher is the best person to describe the details of the technology and its technical advantages. The most successful tech transfer results are obtained when the researcher and the licensing manager work together as a team to market and sell the technology.

Studies have shown that 70% of licenses result from contacts already known to the inventors. Thus, research and consulting are often valuable sources for identifying licensees. Licensees are also identified through alumni, former students, and exiting relationships of the Innovation Gateway staff.

Yes. There can be more than one licensee for invention technology, either non-exclusively or exclusively to several companies, each for a unique field-of-use (application) or geography