Inventor's Guides

The resources available in Technology Transfer Offices vary based on their level of development. Technology Transfer Offices operating under Best Practices will offer a great variety of resources to university researchers to assist in protecting, registering and licensing their innovations.

Inventor’s Guides seem to be made available by only a limited number of research universities. The efforts applied to preparing a resource such as this may be an indication of the level of enthusiasm and diligence the office presents while issuing the document. The Inventor/Research Guides listed below are examples from selected research universities operating under Best Practices.

• Brandeis University - This Technology Transfer Guide covers research through disclosure, ownership of inventions through marketing, commercialization and revenue distribution in an easy-to-understand Q&A format.
• Columbia University - This New Inventions Guide is less granular and policy related than the prior one, but is a beautifully organized document that provides an overview of the process as well as a number of success stories.
• University of Maryland - This comprehensive guide to Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer presents information for the academic inventor from the basics of technology transfer, patents and licensing as well as helpful tips on laboratory record keeping.