Technology Commercialization Office (TCO)

TCO

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Contact us

Technology
Commercialization Office
University of Utah
615 Arapeen #310,
SLC, UT 84108
801-581-7792

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Outside Spin-in Businesses

The Technology Commercialization Office (TCO) at the University of Utah (the U) is one of the nation's leading tech transfer offices. The mission of the TCO is to transform smart ideas into world changing applications, some of which are not generated by university faculty or staff. The TCO's principle clientele are the U and its faculty and staff, but opportunities occasionally arise from the community, rather than university faculty and researchers, that benefit the U and the public as a whole. Most of these opportunities are in the form of outside invention submissions where inventors or companies are looking to leverage the U's resources.

When an outside inventor wishes to have the TCO work with them to advance, vet and de-risk a technology, the following criteria must be met so the TCO can assess the invention and determine if it has an interest in pursuing a partnership. Even if all criteria are met, the U may still choose not to cultivate a relationship with the inventors.

Spin-In Requirements

  • 1. An invention disclosure form (IDF) must be submitted. Click here to download an IDF form
  • 2. A two-stroke document must be completed. This document will provide the TCO with an overview of the technology, its stage of development, your plans for protecting its intellectual property, and its commercial/market opportunity. Click here to download the two-stroke form
  • 3. In your application you must provide the TCO with a detailed funding strategy for your invention.
  • 4. Each inventor must submit a resume to the TCO.
  • 5. You must have a strong working relationship with at least one researcher at the U. In your submission you will need to describe the nature of your partnerships at the U. This is required so that a university employee can sponsor any work done in a lab or any other official university approvals required. Locate a faculty member in your field
  • 6. Your invention must fit the U's areas of expertise and strategy (the TCO will determine if this is the case).
  • 7. If the U is interested, it will require an assignment of the invention's intellectual property to the University of Utah Research Foundation, and the inventors will be subject to the same monetary distributions as university inventors.

Submit requirements 1-5 to: spin-in@tco.utah.edu.

Next Steps

The TCO focuses on providing the best and most transparent services to the U and its faculty and staff, so the number of outside submissions the U can work on is limited. Therefore, your submission may be rejected for many reasons including limited time and resources.

The TCO will meet once a month to review these applications to see if they fit its strategy and goals. Expect a response from us within 45 days of submission.

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