How to Bring Your Research to Market

Today, we know Google search as one of the most transformative technologies of our time and the company as one of the most valuable in the world. But before it became a household name, Google’s search engine was simply an algorithm in a patent application sitting in our office.

The original Google search engine is just one of the many technologies I was fortunate to help commercialize during my 37 years at Stanford University’s Office of Technology Licensing (OTL)—and one of thousands that were developed at universities across the country during the same period. Each one of these inventions is the result of a collective effort—not just from scientists and researchers, but from entrepreneurs, investors and the university technology transfer administrators whose job it is to bring these groups of people together.

If you’re a researcher new to bringing a technology you discovered to market, the tech transfer process may seem daunting. But with guidance from your licensing office, you can ensure your hard work makes as big an impact as possible—maybe even more than you ever imagined. Here are some tips to help you get started commercializing your research.

What Is Technology Transfer?

Say you’re doing basic research on a topic that you’re passionate about. Whether it’s finding a particular cell signaling pathway, a new way to capture carbon dioxide or a process to make quantum computing more efficient, you may make a discovery with a potential practical application. If your discovery is new, useful and not obvious to someone in your discipline, congratulations—it’s considered an invention and potentially patentable!

Even if you are not sure whether you’ve invented something, you should contact your university’s technology transfer office. That office has a unique mission at your university: to help move the discovery from your lab to the public so that society can use and benefit from your research through commercialization. Your technology may even generate royalty income, which will come back to you as an inventor and to the university to help fund other research.

This process is relatively new. It originated with a 1980 law called the Bayh-Dole Act, which allowed universities and other research institutions to own the patents on technologies they developed with federal funding. Before Bayh-Dole, these patents were owned by the government and rarely became practical products. But since Bayh-Dole, research institutions have received more than 126,000 patents and launched more than 17,000 start-ups. Licensing is hard: Most inventions are not licensed, and success is not guaranteed. But when it’s successful, society benefits.

These days, nearly every university has a technology transfer office to help move early-stage research inventions to the marketplace. They will evaluate your invention to see if it is patentable, determine the potential products that could be made from it and decide whether to invest resources into licensing your invention to a company that will bring it to the marketplace.

Be Open to Having Your Technology Commercialized

I remember when one of Stanford’s most successful inventors confessed to me that they were very nervous about disclosing their first invention to OTL. I was sorry to hear that, because administrators in tech transfer offices hope that researchers will feel comfortable contacting them. They want to work with you to help your technology reach the public.

Even professors Stanley Cohen of Stanford and Herbert Boyer of the University of California, San Francisco—whose invention of recombinant DNA in the 1970s sparked the modern biotechnology industry—had to be convinced that their discovery should be patented. But once they agreed, Stanford was able to license the technology to more than 460 companies. These companies then used it to create over 2,400 innovative products—including insulin, vaccines for hepatitis B and pest-resistant crops.

The inventions derived from recombinant DNA have benefited millions of people around the world. By generating more than $250 million in licensing revenue, they’ve also had a direct impact on Stanford research and commercialization. At Stanford, a small percentage of licensing income funds the entire OTL, with the vast majority of funds going back to benefit inventors, their departments and their schools within the university. If your invention is successfully licensed, it could pay dividends for your future research.

Taking the first step toward commercializing your laboratory discovery is a big moment. But your licensing office is there to help. Ultimately, they want the same thing you do—to help your research make a difference in the world.

Be Patient and Open to Different Possibilities

If your office decides to file for a patent on your invention, you’ll work with a patent attorney to submit an application to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It may take several years of back-and-forth interaction—patenting recombinant DNA, for example, took Stanford six years. But eventually, the USPTO will likely issue a patent. And during that time, your tech transfer office will be trying to contact companies to see if they are interested in taking a license.

The licensing process is long, and it’s important to be prepared for setbacks. Many times, there are no companies that are willing to take the financial risk of commercializing a new, unproven technology, no matter how interesting it may be. In fact, that was the case with Google. Outside of OTL, no one saw the potential of the “PageRank” algorithm— so its inventors, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founded a company and licensed the algorithm from the university themselves. Their success reveals that even the most transformative inventions don’t have it easy when it comes to commercialization.

Even when companies are interested in licensing your technology, the process may not go exactly as you expect. Stanford’s OTL and many others market technologies broadly, meaning that your invention may end up being licensed to a big company, a small start-up or even many different companies at once. Interested companies may want to use your technology for a different application than you originally intended—or they might not recognize its value until years down the road. Keeping an open mind about what the future of your invention could look like will help you be successful when an opportunity comes along.

Licensing is hard. Most inventions are not licensed, and success is not guaranteed for any given invention. If it seems like no one is interested in licensing your invention, don’t let it discourage you from continuing your research. On the other hand, if a company takes an interest in your invention, you should be very proud! You’ve earned an opportunity that not all inventors get, and your tech transfer office can help you make the most of it.

Consider Becoming an Entrepreneur

Google is just one example, but there are many faculty and students who are interested in playing an active role in commercializing their inventions. They may have a specific vision for how their technology could be applied as a product—or they may just be interested in the business side of commercialization. If that sounds like you, your tech transfer office is the key to getting started.

The first step in starting a company around your technology is to inform your licensing office. They will most likely be delighted! They may even have programs that will help you learn the basics of entrepreneurship. Next, you’ll negotiate a license agreement with the university, which will include economic and diligence terms—benchmarks that show you are making an earnest, steady and energetic effort to develop your invention commercially. Once the license is signed, you’re off and running to develop the technology, find investors and build a team.

Starting a company from scratch is hard work and involves a lot of risk. But the university is your partner and will want you to be successful. Remember, licensing revenues mean that commercially valuable products help the university earn money as well. So, tech transfer offices may include provisions like university equity in your start-up to help you with the resources to get off the ground quickly.

Entrepreneurship isn’t always the best path to success for an invention, but if you’re willing to help start your own company, it’s a valuable option. As with any other question you may have regarding commercializing your invention, your tech transfer office will be happy to guide you here.

Defend the Laws That Make Commercialization Possible

As time passes, it can be easy to forget that not long ago, fewer than 5 percent of university inventions were ever licensed. The Bayh-Dole Act created the technology transfer system as we know it. Both technology transfer professionals and researchers have a responsibility to advocate for the preservation of this law so that university innovation can continue to thrive.

If you ever have the opportunity to meet with your representatives in Congress, sharing your commercialization success stories is a great way to inform them about the importance of tech transfer and the policy environment that makes it possible. I recently experienced this firsthand when I met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill after being honored as one of the Bayh-Dole Coalition’s 2024 Faces of American Innovation. My fellow honorees were all scientists and inventors who had little to no experience speaking to legislators, but they seized the opportunity and made a strong impression in favor of protecting Bayh-Dole.

There are many ways to get involved without traveling to Washington. Outreach in the form of letters or public statements can make an impact, especially when an issue is timely. For example, when the federal government proposed a new policy detrimental to the Bayh-Dole system in December 2023, many major research universities, trade associations and prominent investor and start-up groups spoke out against it through public comments. Making your own voice heard when issues like this arise is important to ensure that your research can continue to make a difference.

The university research enterprise of the United States is the envy of the world, and the innovations that come out of it are the engines that keep our economy vibrant. We owe not only gratitude but support to the Bayh-Dole Act for allowing university research to make a real-world impact.