ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University is changing the way in which it handles its intellectual property (IP) and transfers its many new technologies to the public. The changes are designed to foster university-industry research collaborations, promote innovation and encourage entrepreneurship on campus.

IP management, licensing and economic development now will be combined in a single office, the Cornell Center for Technology, Enterprise and Commercialization (CCTEC), also referred to as the Cornell Center for Technology or "C-tech."

CCTEC is a regular operating unit of the university and reports to Vice Provost for Research Robert Richardson. With an average of nearly one new invention developed at Cornell every business day, the university's emphasis on IP/technology-transfer function has increased, as has the need to enhance and integrate that operation, says Richardson. "C-tech is better positioned to commercialize the university's inventions and coordinate resources to increase corporate research collaboration and foster economic development," he notes. The new organization, he says, makes it much easier for researchers and their colleges to participate in economic development and entrepreneurship and access Cornell's IP management, licensing and technology-transfer resources.

CCTEC merges and coordinates the IP Management and Licensing office in Ithaca and its satellite at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, and the Office of Economic Development and Cornell Research Foundation.

Through its office of IP management, the new center manages all aspects of Cornell's invention disclosures, patents, trademarks, copyrights and licenses. Technology managers at the center have primary responsibility for managing confidentiality agreements and outgoing material transfer agreements, negotiating option and license agreements and assisting other Cornell groups with consulting arrangements and corporate visits to campus. "The new structure is designed to build strategic relationships among colleges, centers and our IP/technology-transfer operation," notes Richard Cahoon, acting executive director of CCTEC. "In addition to their traditional technology marketing and licensing roles, senior technology managers at the center will coordinate the development of a strategic relationship between C-tech, colleges and other centers. They also will work closely with Cornell campus groups in related areas, such as industrial outreach. The center offers companies easier, one-portal access to Cornell's proprietary technology and IP. It also is much more conducive to fostering university-industry research collaborations, due to closer links with the Office of Sponsored Programs.

"We have IP/technology-transfer professionals with technical and business expertise in human and animal health, the physical sciences and the life sciences who serve as direct links to Cornell's colleges and research centers."

These professionals not only market and license inventions developed at Cornell but also encourage companies to support Cornell's research laboratories and assist researchers and administrators in the technology-based venture creation process, Cahoon adds.

"As IP management and technology transfer has intensified, the public expectation of universities to serve as engines of economic development has grown," Cahoon says. "The rise in small-business development in the United States is due in part to university spin-off companies, particularly those based on high technology."

Related World Wide Web sites: The following sites provide additional information on this news release. Some might not be part of the Cornell University community, and Cornell has no control over their content or availability.

o Cornell Center for Technology, Enterprise & Commercialization:

http://www.cctec.cornell.edu