The
Technology Transfer operating model in Israel for the last decades has been that
of a Technology Transfer Company (TTC) a commercial separate legal entity – a company
limited by share, fully owned by a single university.
That
model has shown a good fit for the special circumstances in Israel. The
universities have managed to support their TTC and allow them to evolve to the
stage of financial independence, to employ personal outside the limitation of
public institutions and to act as business oriented entities with certain
academic limitations.
However,
a few months ago a new idea appeared on stage with potential interesting
circumstances. The Council for Higher Education (CHE) has published a call for
proposal (tender) for forming a TTC for the colleges it sponsors. The CHE was
responding to a recommendation of the prime minister to do something for the
colleges.
That
move signaled two interesting points; the first being that the CHE recognizes
the need of the colleges to enhance their research activities and to become
more than just teaching institutes. The second, by suggesting a single firm for
several colleges, they were introducing a new model for TTC operation in Israel.
The
first point will be referred to at another time. However the introduction of
the new model of TTC operation in Israel may have interesting implications.
Israel has at the moment seven research universities, each with its own TTC.
The justification of that model has been based on the direct support that each
university gave to its TTC in its formation stages, and on the claim that a TTC
of two universities may be presented with a conflict of interests when having
to decide between competing technologies originating from different
universities regarding their protection and commercialization.
However,
both these arguments loose a lot of their credibility when looked into in depth.
The first claim regarding the financial backing, the universities have been
supported in their budget by the government (through the financial arm of the
CHE) since each was established by law (or in the case off these preceding the
state since its formation). Therefore the "internal funds" in most
cases came from the public, and therefore could in theory be managed jointly….
The
second argument may seem both practical and ethical but in fact that chances
that in a single university with a strong research center focused on a sector
(e.g. nano-science) there would be several research groups working on closely
related topics that would from time to time come up with competing technologies
for protection and commercialization, and the TTCs have evolved an internal
system to overcome that in-house conflict of interests. Furthermore the German model
seems to have found some solutions for such problems (TLB). A center for renewable energies as recently
formed in Tel Aviv University boasting some 55 different research groups would
certainly come with competing solutions to similar "hot" problems in
that area. Would anyone expect a TTC to be formed for each competing solution?
The
real bastion against the unified model has been the success of the existing
model. The revenues accrued by the TTC of the Weitzman Institute (Yeda) and the
Hebrew university TTC (Yissum) as well as the others supported the existing
model – if it works do not change it…
The
new model for TTC operation in Israel, however, if successful and with the
support of the German model, to remove the claim for the difference due to
universities versus colleges, could lead to a strong pressure to unify the
universities TTC. After all Israel is not such a big place, and a single
company could cover the whole country. Since we are dealing with public
funding, such a move could be regarded by decision makers as interesting and
certainly as warranting a closer look.
Will the new model be successful? Should the university TTCs unite?
