About Technology Transfer

Technology transfer could be defined as a number of actions whose purpose is to obtain yield of the R&D+i results and know-how generated at universities and research centres.

"Technology transfer is considered a stage in the global process of commercialization and represented as a transfer of intellectual capital and know-how among organizations with the aim of using them in the creation and development of commercially feasible products and services”
Nuevos mecanismos de transferencia de tecnología. Fundación COTEC. (New technology transfer mechanisms. COTEC Fundation)
 
Technology transfer activities at the UIB are carried out by two offices that work in cooperation with each other: the Research Support Office (OSR) depending on the Vice-Rectorate of Research and responsible for the management of research activities and industrial property rights and ,on the other hand, the Technology Transfer Office (OTRI) of the Fundación Universidad-Empresa de las Islas Baleares (FUEIB), under the coordination of the Rector’s Representative on Innovation, managing the detection, valorization and commercialization of the research results.
 
Technology Transfer Mechanisms

The following mechanisms are used to put in practice the technology transfer process:  
 
1. Transfer agreements

License agreement
Under this type of agreement the licensing party transfers the to the licensee the right to use and make use of a certain technology – maintaining the industrial property rights on it – in exchange to a certain price (fixed and/or variable payments). The license agreement might impose limits in terms of use, territory and time. It offers the possibility of a single, unique licensee or multiple licensees’ agreement.
 
Know-how agreement
Technical knowledge with commercial or industrial application, not patentable due to its nature and hold as a secret, is usually the subject of transfer in this type of agreements. These are normally know-how sales or license agreements and require the previous signature of a non-disclosure agreement.
 
Assignment of industrial property rights agreement
These are usually technology sales agreements. In contrast with the license agreements, here not only the rights to use are transferred but also the property rights.

Technical assistance agreement
These agreements are characterized by secrecy and might take the form of consultancy services additional to know-how or other assets transfer, to support the operation of the technology in question. (ex. Training, operative assistance during a determined period of time, transfer of documentation, etc.)

Collaboration agreement
Research projects that require collaboration between a research group and a company in the development of a technology are concerned in this type of agreement. It determines the distribution of costs and risks shared between the parties, as well as the disribution of results and earnings to be obtained. It usually applies to the cases when business companies face the lack of resources, equipment or know-how.
 
Non-disclosure agreement
This type of agreement usually goes along with the above mentioned contracts and is especially important in the process of negotiation and preparation of collaborative projects. Its aim is to determine the conditions of confidential information exchange between the parties. The following aspects should be specified: the scope of information to be exchanged, the use permitted and the period of time it should be maintained confidential.
 
2. University spin-off creation

A technology based company or a so called university spin-off is a company where the initiative to transfer a know-how, a technology o a result originated in the university is lead by researchers of the same.

3. Human Resources Mobility

It implies the transfer of human resources to the manufacturing sector, either by incorporating doctors or specialists in the personnel of a company or by a temporal employment of scientists in the business sector. Know-how is the main subject of transfer in this case.

Consultancy in the process of contracting between UIB and third parties.
Tecnologia UIB, through the OTRI-FUEIB, offers consultancy in the process of contracting between the UIB and third parties.