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Our education efforts begin with short presentations to faculty and staff departments about the rigors of the commercialization process at the University of Pittsburgh, the help that is available, and what to expect. We also offer a primer on commercial innovation, patenting, and protecting intellectual property. If you’re interested in bringing the presentation, which can vary from a 20-minute introduction to a two-hour workshop, to your department, contact the TCA at 412-624-4474 or e-mail us.

The TCA also offers an eight-week course for faculty and graduate students called Academic Entrepreneurship: The Business of Commercial Innovation. The course, which is run in the fall and spring, takes attendees to the very beginning of the innovation process, when the innovator first conceives of an idea, and teaches them about the creative process; early market research; communicating with potential licensees and investors; a structured, strategic approach to developing networks of people to help them; and what entrepreneurship really means in the academic realm, among other sessions. The course ends in a hands-on, weekend Innovation Workshop. The course was developed in partnership with the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and its Center for Executive Education, which administers the course. To be considered for the next course, contact the TCA at 412-624-4474 or e-mail us.

To encourage collaborative research and development interaction among diverse departments at Pitt, as well as with industry and the investor community, the TCA hosts periodic conferences and poster receptions that feature Pitt innovators and their commercially viable innovations. The TCA also publishes the Brown Bag News, which focuses on opportunities for education and collaboration and showcases some of Pitt’s stellar innovators. Be sure to contact the TCA if you’d like to be included on its mailing lists to learn about the many interactive opportunities.

To find entrepreneurial support within the University for you and your innovation, you can start by contacting the TCA, which will help facilitate assistance from a variety of TCA Partners.The TCA and its partners can help you with prototype design and development, business and finance planning, market research, patenting, and marketing communication efforts, among other services as you navigate the commercialization process.

Regardless of where you begin, however, you eventually will find yourself at the doorstep of the Office of Technology Management, the TCA Partner that manages all intellectual property developed at the University, including patenting and licensing of all technology. That process begins with your completion of an Invention Disclosure form.

Invention Disclosure Form

The online invention disclosure system is now available. If you have any questions or concerns, please call the Office of Technology Management 412-648-2206.

Inventor’s Checklist

Your road to commercialization will begin, in large part, with an Invention Disclosure form. By writing an effective invention disclosure, you will be giving your idea the best possible chance for success. Here’s a checklist of information you will need:

• A working title for the invention
• The name and department of the inventor
• The names of anyone who made a creative contribution to the invention
• Dates of conception and reduction to practice (the completion and actual operation of the invention, including any testing)
• The invention’s function and potential uses
• A description of the invention and comparison to current technologies and practices
• A summary of the invention’s development status, and data obtained to date
• Steps you intend to take to further develop and test the invention
• Government and non-government support of the invention
• Potentially interested companies
• Advantages your invention has over any similar existing products or practices
• Any public disclosure of the invention that has occurred or is imminent

Keep in mind also the following tips:

The way you maintain laboratory records could be essential to proving ownership of the invention against a rival who is making similar claims if a dispute arises in the future. Use a record book with a permanent binding for laboratory notes—not loose-leaf or spiral-bound books, which allow for page removal and substitution. Pre-number the pages and write in permanent ink, signing and dating each completed page. Remember to date, sign, and witness any computer-generated pages, and treat the notebook as a legal document, keeping it in a safe place with limited access.

Be very careful about discussing your invention. Public disclosure—without safeguards—can forfeit your ability to obtain a patent in most countries. Some examples of public disclosure include:

• A student thesis;
• A talk or poster presentation at an open scientific meeting;
• Publication of an abstract or article;
• Conversations about the invention with external parties who haven’t signed a confidentiality agreement;
• Posts to a Web site or public newsgroup that describe the invention.

When in doubt about public disclosure, consult the Technology Commercialization Alliance in advance.

Pay careful attention to publications from others in your field that may impact your invention. In the United States, their publication starts a one-year clock for patent application. That’s when your laboratory notebook may play an important role in proving that you thought of the invention first.

Become a well-informed entrepreneur. According to commercialization experts, the majority of contacts leading to licenses come from the inventors themselves. Know the relevant marketplace for your invention by:

• Maintaining contact with peers or students who move into the commercial sector;
• Noting which firms at scientific conferences express the most interest in your research;
• Reading the business press about companies in your field;
• Reviewing the Web pages and product literature of companies in your field; and Examining securities documents filed by public companies in your field.