Every TTO has the equivalent of a once promising son or daughter who now lives in your basement, pays no rent, and doesn't seem to be going anywhere soon. These patents and IP once held enough promise that you put them on the active track for commercialization, but now it looks like their potential will never materialize. So what do you do with them? Tech transfer leaders at North Carolina State University in Raleigh-Durham have developed a systematic process for making the tough decision to pull the plug on nonperformers and prevent them from continuing to drain scarce resources. The trick, says Kelly Boatright Sexton, director of the Office of Technology Transfer, is to create a rational, objective set of criteria that identifies the assets to take off life support.
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