Target audience

Professionals working at universities or in companies who are responsible for evaluating Invention Disclosures and according working steps.

Level

Basic, for beginners/recent technology transfer managers.

Workshop Goals

This workshop will address the following questions and topics:

• What is an invention, examples, stories, invention vs discovery, basic elements of patentability
• Key criteria which are essential in evaluating an invention and how to proceed, relations with inventors
• How to acquire further useful information
• Exchange experiences and good practices among participants and moderators

 

Date, Location and General Information

Date: Tuesday, May 15th 2018
Location: University of Bern / UniS, Schanzeneckstrasse 1
Room: Room B-105
Language: English
Costs: CHF 120.00 for members of swiTT or SBA, CHF 150.00 for other participants
Food: The workshop fee includes food and beverages (lunch and afternoon coffee)
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Duration: 10.30 – 16.00

 

Moderators

Natalia Giovannini is technology transfer manager at EPFL and member of the board of swiTT. Natalia has a molecular biology background and has participated in various research programs between 1994 and 2002 in the fields of transcription regulation, biology of the development and metabolism. Her post-doctoral research was financed by a big Swiss pharmaceutical company. Natalia is active in licensing technologies at EPFL (EPFL – TTO) mainly in the life science field since 2002. She is member of the Board of swiTT since 2008.

Stefan Lux joined ETH transfer in September 2009 as Technology Transfer Manager and is deputy head of the patents and licensing team. He is a member of the board of swiTT (Swiss Technology Transfer Association) and ASTP (Association of European Science & Technology Transfer Professionals). Stefan obtained his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen University and his MBA-degree from University of St. Gallen (HSG). He worked over 10 years for a Swiss company as head of product development.

Hervé Lebret is in charge of the Innogrants at EPFL, a program supporting the creation of high-tech start-ups. He is also a senior scientist at the College of Management of Technologies where he teaches and does research about entrepreneurship. Until 2004, he was with Index Ventures, a pan-European venture capital firm which invested in Skype, mysql, Virata, Genmab. He began his career as a researcher in electrical engineering and applied mathematics at ENSTA and ONERA (Paris). He is the author of the book "Start-Up, what we may still learn from Silicon Valley" and related blog www.startup-book.com. Hervé Lebret is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique (Palaiseau, France) and Stanford University. He holds a PhD in electrical engineering from Université de Rennes.

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Agenda

10.30 – 12.15 The invention and its evaluation

Awareness for inventions / Who owns the Intellectual Property (IP)? / Different types of IP protection / Criteria for Patentability and assessment of patent strength / Basic evaluation of commercialization options / Involvement of research group and inventors / Decision making / Calculation methods as support tool / Tutorial

Moderator: Stefan Lux

12.15 – 13.30 Lunch Break

13.30 – 14.45 Assessing the commercial potential of an invention

“Assessing the commercial potential of an invention” will show that no technology has any value by itself. It is as important to consider its applications. Through 2 case studies, the module will aim at sensitizing the audience about the gaps that may exist between an invention and its possible product application. A “check-list” listing the evaluation criteria and related questions that an inventor should ask herself or himself for this evaluation will be built by the participants and a synthesis will be provided at the end of the module.”

Moderator: Hervé Lebret

14.45 – 16.00 Coffee/Tea Break

15.00 – 16.00 swiTTtalk, Questions of participants, sharing experiences

Moderators: Stefan Lux, Natalia Giovannini, Hervé Lebret

This session is open for questions on any topics related to technology transfer, not only on invention evaluation and valuation. On questions from the participants we'd like to give a first feedback from (one of the) the moderators and also open up a short discussion round with all participants.

 

Registration

Please fill in, latest May 8th, 2018, the registration form below.

Upon receipt of the registration, you will receive a confirmation with an invoice at the email you indicated.