The first proper working week here has been great. The week started off with the Kellogg School of Management course “Management for Scientists and Engineers”. This is a one day a week, intensive course, held over 8 weeks. The days are pretty long, from 8.30am to around 6pm and we are required to do some pre-reading. If you don’t do the pre-reads you will be pretty stuck in class, and risk looking pretty stupid when you are asked questions about them. The lectures have been amazing. On this first week we learnt about Economics & Strategy which was delivered by Jen Brown and Leadership in Action by Keith Murnighan. Might sound boring? Maybe in the hands of less skilled speakers. Both sessions were thoroughly engaging, interesting and really insightful. Even more so, all of the students in the class (there’s 51 of us!) were interacting and asking questions throughout the day. A massive difference to the very quiet lectures that we have in Finland. Because of the constant interaction and thought provoking questions, I think I learnt a lot more than I would normally in such a course. I feel really inspired and privileged to be here. It’s not often one gets to experience the quality of teaching from one of the top business schools in the world.

Three days were spent at the Innovation and New Ventures Office (INVO) of Northwestern University. The purpose of this office is to handle the commercialisation of inventions made at the university. The process of commericalisation starts with invention disclosure, where the inventor(s) will submit paperwork which essentially announces the existence of the invention to the University. If the invention is more than just an idea and has some sound data behind it, or a prototype, then it will be considered for patenting. It is important to be able to protect inventions in some way, even if patenting is not an option – and INVO will consider how it can be done. Following this there are several possibilities. The cost of patenting and being able to defend the patent(s) is massive. The cost of a US patent is in the region of $25,000. If you want to get global patent coverage, you can be looking at a ballpark figure of $100,000. One way of recouping the money spent on patenting, and potentially making some more, is to market and license the IP (intellectual property) to companies or other parties who could utilise the invention. Another option is to form a start-up company to develop the invention.

One of the key things I learnt this week, is that the duty of INVO is to make sure that the licensee is obliged to make use of and develop the invention and not just sit on it. Another thing as well, is that the terms of the license must not preclude further academic research on the invention. These form part of the “Nine Points to Consider in Licensing University Technology” which are principles by which many US Universities practice Technology Transfer (TT).

I will continue to work at INVO, the majority of each week. I will learn specifics on how the TT process works, from disclosure to licensing. In particular, I hope to learn more about, and get experience in, the marketing side of things. How INVO actually finds willing companies and how the process of licensing actually happens. I will have some specific projects to work on in INVO. Unfortunately, due to their nature and the fact that I signed a non-disclosure agreement, I cannot write about details or specifics. What I hope to write about here is about the principles of what I have learnt and how it could be applied when I go back home.

Finally, one day a week I will spend with my host lab – Rick Morimoto’s lab.  I was there this week and had a lovely day. The lab members are incredibly friendly and welcoming. I had the chance to listen to a really engaging thesis seminar from one of Rick’s students, Prajwal Ciryam, who has just graduated as an MD PhD, PhD – and yes you can call him Dr. Dr.! While I won’t be doing lab work there, I am using the skills I am learning at INVO to work on business plan for a joint venture between my lab (the Eriksson Lab) and Rick’s lab.

Looking forward to the following week – once I have done my pre-reads for the course on Monday!