September 16, 2015

John Miner is an Assistant Director in the Office of Technology Transfer (OTT), where he has been working since 1999, starting as a student assistant. He received his BA in Organization Communications with a minor in Space Studies and his MS in Research Administration from UCF. Miner is also a licensing associate and works with a variety of departments and research institutes within the physical sciences. “Our job here in OTT is a bit of cheer leading, to help people see the potential and the possibilities of new research and technology. To help people understand that when you become our partner, you’re not just getting a piece of paper with a patent on it. You’re getting a true partnership and the full force of the University is behind that.”

At the center of it all is a flurry of constant communication: emails, contracts, agreements, journal articles, technical papers, meetings, and discussions. “It’s a lot of reading and comprehension, especially when you’re talking about a lot of legal documents and negotiations. It’s the subtle difference between version one and version two. Just changing a couple of words can completely change the scope and feel for the agreement,” he said.

Miner reflected on two licensing experiences that he’s especially proud of—and one of them may even be in your home: the Gossamer Wind Fan. “It has been a phenomenally successful commercial product that’s in the hands of a lot of people. It was one of the first licensing agreements that I ever worked on. It brought a lot of revenue to the University, and to the faculty member, and the technology is out in the marketplace. It was a very tangible product to see and understand.”

The other licensing experience involved a faculty-led startup company, which is headed by Leon Glebov, Ph.D. from CREOL [The College of Optics and Photonics]. “It has proven to be a really good, long-term partnership with open communication and clear understanding that each of us is trying to get a win-win for both sides.” According to Miner, OptiGrate has been the archetypal startup, with increasing research supported by many contracts and grants, including federal government STTR (small business technology transfer) grants.

So how can the licensor/licensee relationship become a win-win partnership? Miner had some advice for researchers developing innovative technologies: disclose your inventions to OTT early, in advance of any publications or presentations to allow OTT to capture the inventions as broadly as possible to maximize their value and commercial potential.

For the entrepreneur or industry partner looking for new technologies to invest in, experience is crucial for success. Miner believes that an ideal licensee is “a successful entrepreneur, or someone who has a successful track record in commercializing technology from a university.” He remarked that a key ingredient for a successful licensing relationship is open and honest communication. He also finds that integrity goes a long way—the ability to keep one’s word and to follow through.

As someone who has been at UCF since he was a student, Miner’s longevity in OTT, as well as his passion for the University, informs his work: “I am an eternal supporter of UCF. I’m proud of all that I’ve participated in and seen since the first day that I stepped onto this campus. Most of what we’re doing here is cutting and blazing trails, and that’s hard work. If I can be around that innovative work and assist inventors, I feel like I’m doing something worthwhile.”

For more information about partnering with UCF to bring ideas to the marketplace, contact John Miner.

Written by Deborah Beckwin

September 9, 2015

Part 1 of 3-part series explaining the process of licensing technology

As America’s Partnership University™, UCF wants to help innovative researchers, entrepreneurs looking to advance technological frontiers, and companies looking for emerging technologies bridge groundbreaking ideas from the laboratory to the realm of our everyday lives—to impact the way we live, work, and play. There are several steps between creating an innovation and bringing it to the marketplace. Over the next month, we’ll focus on how UCF’s Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) can help both researchers and companies transform our world. We’ll also hear from some of the licensing associates about their experiences on the journey to commercialization.

The Licensing Agreement—cutting through the legalese

Admittedly, there’s a lot of legal lingo and jargon that is used in the licensing agreements, so here are some key terms to remember.

Licensing intellectual property, or IP, is a part of the commercialization process, or how IP enters the marketplace. What actually is IP? The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) states that intellectual property is a creation of the mind and is protected in law by patents, copyright, and / or trademarks. These protections help people to earn recognition and/or financially benefit from what they invent or create.

Most of the time, IP at UCF is protected by a patent. The WIPO states that a patent is “an exclusive right granted for an invention and provides the patent owner with the right to decide how – or whether – the invention can be used by others. In exchange for this right, the patent owner makes technical information about the invention publicly available in the published patent document.”

A licensing agreement is a partnership between a licensor (an intellectual property rights owner­—in this case, UCF) and a licensee (one who is authorized to use such rights, such as an entrepreneur or industry partner) in exchange for an agreed payment (a fee or royalty). A patent license agreement, dictates how the patent will be used. It is tailored to product development needs as well as the needs of the licensor and the licensee.

Said in less legalese: patents help inventors protect and control their ideas and inventions and license agreements give permission to others to use that patented technology. One good example of how we use licenses every day is with computer software. Ever heard of a EULA—end-user licensing agreement? It’s a contract between the licensor (the software company) and the licensee (the purchaser), establishing the licensee’s right to use the software. Online, the purchaser must click ‘accept’ to agree to the terms before the software is released for use. Sometimes, these licenses come with a timeframe, such as a one-year agreement, like with anti-virus software. Once the purchaser pays the renewal fee, the software is available for use again for another year.

There are many more details that are specific to inventors and industry partners, which we will cover more extensively over the course of this blog series.

Licensing university intellectual property—overcoming challenges and embracing opportunities

Before a product or idea can be licensed and commercialized it must go through our rigorous IP protection process, which you can read about here. OTT guides and supports the commercialization process as thoroughly and as efficiently as possible, setting up both researchers and entrepreneurs for continued success.

Because these innovations are developed in a university environment, not only are they cutting-edge, they are typically in the very early stages of development. This provides both an opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity is for a licensee to have a competitive advantage by supporting the continued research and development of an idea for future revenue. The challenge lies in that this R&D can take a lot of capital and patience.

Success Stories

Many times, that marrying of capital and patience pays off. One of our most successful licensing stories involves something that no Floridian house is usually without: a ceiling fan. By using the design of propellers used on planes, Danny Parker of UCF’s Solar Energy Center (FSEC) was able to create the Gossamer Wind Fan which is more aerodynamic and thus more energy efficient—so much so that the energy savings created by this fan can recoup the purchase cost. Together, Parker and OTT were able to find the right licensee which means you can now purchase this fan at Home Depot or Lowes. You can read more about this success story here.

For the next three weeks, we’ll look at how OTT can help researchers and entrepreneurs achieve success in the marketplace while simultaneously solving pressing problems and making life a little easier and better for all of us. In the meantime, check out the innovative technologies available for licensing on our  Technology Locator.

And for more information on how we connect research to industry, contact us.

Tech Blog Thursday is an original monthly blog series that mixes serious science with humor and easily recognizable analogies for the less-than-scientifically inclined. The purpose of this blog series is to illustrate the potential of not-yet-commercialized technology and encourage excitement about the possibilities.

June 11, 2015

The story behind the new hybrid solar cell developed at UCF begins with a common problem of decreased solar cell efficiency (performance plummets when it’s either too hot or too cold). Like Goldilocks looking for her perfect bowl of porridge, photovoltaic (PV) cells need temperatures to be just right. UCF Researchers have created a new way to combine the best elements of PV and thermoelectrics (TE) for solar power generation, forming a better way to produce renewable energy.

Sure, other PVs and TEs had been coupled in the past, but this perfected pairing is different. Temperature modulation, where PVs are weakest, is where TEs come in to turn up the heat or cool things down, to boost efficiency.

This hybrid technology works in three ways.

The first mode uses heat generated from absorbed solar energy and other heat-generating processes, like the ohmic heat from current flow in the PV cells and connections. By configuring a TE cell between this “hot side” and a colder ambient, electric energy is produced (the Seebeck Effect). Combining this additional energy with the energy produced by the PV cell raises the hybrid’s efficiency by about 7 percent in initial calculations.

The second mode uses the TE cell as a Peltier Effect cooler to cool the PV cell itself. This effectively increases the output power of the PV cell under typical warm weather conditions, cells on a rooftop for example, in contrast to the expected significant decline in power and energy output as cell temperature increases.

In the third mode, the TE cooler can be driven in reverse so it becomes a TE heater. During extremely cold nights, the module can protect from damage caused to PV systems.

The hybrid technology’s ability to easily switch between modes to optimize the system output significantly increases its value. On a very cold sunlit day, the relatively low ambient temperature calls for the system’s first mode. On a very hot day, the second mode is best. The hybrid module can make the most of temperature variations in a day by operating in one mode earlier in the day before temperatures rise, and then switching to a mode that’s more effective in heat as the day goes on.

For more information or for more “hot commodity” technologies, contact Raju Nagaiah, Ph.D.