Internal Metrics and Benchmarking: New Era Measurement of TTO Performance and Impact
Originally presented April 20, 2011

The unprecedented focus on innovation among federal and state government officials has put tech transfer in the spotlight like never before, creating intense pressure from university administration and other key stakeholders to demonstrate the impact of research commercialization efforts on economic development and job creation. Yet most metrics currently used by TTOs fail to adequately capture these data or translate your activities into the results you're now being asked to deliver.

In short, your office will no longer be judged solely on traditional metrics such as patent applications filed, license agreements executed, and royalty revenue collected. While those results remain important, the metrics needed are expanding – and the demand for "proof" of impact is intensifying -- as the spotlight on tech transfer gets brighter in the national debate over innovation effectiveness.

That's why Technology Transfer Tactics has recruited two tech transfer executives and performance measurement though leaders for a critical and timely program:

Internal Metrics and Benchmarking:
New Era Measurement of TTO Performance and Impact

During this one-hour program, you'll hear from Charles Louis, Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of California, Riverside, who was charged with leading the UC system's analysis of and recommendations for measuring the impact of university tech transfer statewide. The findings and guidance that sprang from that effort provide a valuable blueprint for adapting your performance measurement and metrics to the new realities of tech transfer's impact on the wider innovation ecosystem. You'll get a detailed look at that guidance in four key areas:

• CREATING PUBLIC BENEFIT, MEASURED BY:
  • Agreements by type and per million research dollars spent
  • Start-ups created
  • Agreements with reservation of rights clauses
  • Products reaching the market
• SERVICE TO ACADEMIC COMMUNITY, MEASURED BY:
  • Disclosures, first-time disclosures, and multiple disclosures
  • Contacts with faculty
  • Faculty receiving income shares
  • Patents filed and issued
  • MTAs and copyright licenses
• INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS, MEASURED BY:
  • Agreements stemming from SRAs
  • Number of and dollars associated with SRAs
  • Visitor agreements with industry
• ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, MEASURED BY:
  • Start-up funding, revenues, and jobs created
  • Gross sales of licensed technologies
• FAIR COMPENSATION FOR UNIVERSITY IP, MEASURED BY:
  • Royalties, fees, and equity payouts
  • Number of revenue-generating agreements
  • Patent cost reimbursement

Our other panelist, former TTO manager Melba Kurman, principal with Triple Helix Innovation, will introduce attendees to  the "Technology Transfer Health Index" – a unique and elegant platform she created that allows universities of different sizes and budgets to be fairly compared against one another using a rigorous framework for performance measurement that corrects for "home runs" and idiosyncratic counting methodologies. The index provides TTOs with a powerful new technique that offers greater insight into the activity, impact and productivity of a university's entire IP portfolio, including the "long tail" that represents 95% of the work you engage in.

Meet Your Expert Team of Presenters:

Charles Louis, D.Phil., is the Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of California, Riverside. Dr. Louis is also Chair of the Executive Committee of the Council of Research Policy and Graduate Education (CRPGE) of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) serving on the Board of Directors of APLU and a member of the Board of Directors of the Council on Government Relations (COGR); he has served on many peer- review grant committees as well as the boards of biotech industry associations in both Minnesota and Georgia. Dr. Louis served as Vice President for Research at Georgia State University from 2000-2004, having previously served on the faculty at the University of Minnesota for over 20 years where he held a number of administrative positions including Head of the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics and Assistant Vice President for Research and Associate Dean of the Graduate School.

Melba Kurman is the president of Triple Helix Innovation, an independent consulting firm dedicated to helping universities, policy makers, and companies build better innovation-based partnerships. She is active as an innovation and tech transfer consultant and speaker with over 15 years of experience in bringing innovative technologies to market in industry and university settings.  Her passion is university innovation strategy and how to accelerate the diffusion and commercialization of federally funded university research. Melba, who has written commissioned reports for the White House, also authors the popular Tech Transfer 2.0 blog, providing a fresh and constructive look at the ecosystem around university inventions.  To learn and gain inspiration from the vibrant worldwide community of innovation experts, Melba is US Country Manager and contributing editor to InnovationManagement magazine.  Before founding Triple Helix Innovation, she worked as a product manager for Microsoft and, more recently, was responsible for marketing Cornell University's intellectual property portfolio to industry partners.