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Technology Transfer

FOR UMSL RESEARCHERS: ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Researcher Responsibilities

The faculty/staff member:

• Must disclose their creative work to the University.
• Retains the right and obligation to publish results. Please contact the ORA first, however, to avoid forfeiting patent rights.
• Can request a waiver of University ownership rights after full disclosure of the intellectual property is made and if the IP is determined by the University to have been developed outside the scope of the faculty or staff member’s University duties.

 

ORA Responsibilities

The ORA’s technology transfer staff is responsible for the evaluation of new technologies, obtaining patent protection when needed, identifying licensees and negotiating all intellectual property agreements. Information about the University’s intellectual property policies can be found in the Collected Rules and Regulations of the University of Missouri, Section 100.20.

We provide the following functions:

• Manage the reporting and compliance obligations of sponsored research contracts, which must be conducted on all inventions created and disclosed by faculty.
• Receive invention disclosures and evaluate the technologies disclosed for novelty, uniqueness and relationship to other inventions already published, patented and reported.
• Estimate the feasibility to generate investment and income for existing or new businesses based on the technology.
• If determined viable, seek intellectual property protection, work to identify potential licensees, and, where possible, negotiate intellectual property agreements.

The ORA:

• Must report disclosures and maintain compliance to sponsors, if applicable.
• Will provide a timely evaluation of both the technical and business aspects of the creative work.
• Will work with the faculty/staff member in best stewarding/marketing the creative work.
• Will consider waiving ownership back to the faculty/staff member after full disclosure of the intellectual property is made and if the IP is not deemed to be of a commercial interest to the University.

The ORA also administers the evaluation of potential conflict of interest in research, which can come into play in technology transfer.