{"id":156936,"date":"2023-04-01T17:43:25","date_gmt":"2023-04-01T17:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/?p=156936"},"modified":"2023-08-03T00:25:50","modified_gmt":"2023-08-03T00:25:50","slug":"technology-transfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/business-innovation\/technology-transfer\/","title":{"rendered":"From paper to startup: How to apply science to the real world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Many knowledge and research centers face a common problem: ideas that are proposed remain on paper<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engineer Manuel Mac\u00edas<\/strong><\/a> had imagined and started working on laboratories \u201cto go\u201d (ones that come to your house or work) three years before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although he and his colleagues had participated at conferences and published in scientific journals regarding their technology, they wanted to make their laboratories for real, so they started looking for options to build them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was when Mac\u00edas began to work with Tec de Monterrey\u2019s Technology Transfer Office (TTO)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The TTO not only helped Mac\u00edas with setting up his company, which he called Laiboyan<\/a>, it also gave him advice on taking his project to an innovation hub in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the huge advantages was that they helped get me in the room with the people who make decisions, which enabled us to speed up the process,\u201d recalls Mac\u00edas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 2020, when the pandemic struck<\/strong>, Laiboyan was already supplying technology and services to institutions such as the Tec itself<\/strong>, who wanted students to have remote access to real laboratories located on a campus, in another state within Mexico, or even on the other side of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is technology transfer?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mexico dedicates a mere 0.4% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to research, according to the 2021 Science Report<\/em> from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).<\/em><\/a> Even so, it stood out as one of the leaders for scientific publications<\/strong> in Latin America, with 23,508 publications from 2011 to 2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although this research strengthens academia, how many of these ideas become something tangible and make a positive impact on society<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)<\/a>, the goal of technology transfer<\/strong> is to transform inventions and scientific outcomes into new products and services that benefit society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tec de Monterrey\u2019s TTO helps researchers turn their work into technology-based companies, prototypes and products that can prove themselves in the marketplace or be licensed to companies who need these solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\r\n \r\n \"\"\r\n <\/picture>
Infographics: Oldemar Gonz\u00e1lez \/ TecScience<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tec de Monterrey\u2019s Technology Transfer Office (TTO)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ensuring that research conducted at the Tec is useful for society is the TTO\u2019s main objective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problems or needs that the TTO focuses on are strategic: the future of education<\/a>, research on obesity<\/a>, and sustainable manufacturing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve designed a process based on society\u2019s needs, to attempt to solve them through technology<\/strong>,\u201d says Arturo Santos<\/strong><\/a>, Technology Transfer Director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explains that they are attempting to shift from the traditional model, in which research is aimed at publication, to a model that first investigates a problem and then works on a technological solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom the moment they design their project, we want to ensure that staff and researchers are thinking about what business they want to start and not have it occur by chance<\/strong>,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this process, the TTO seeks to accompany researchers to help them patent their research, develop a prototype, secure funding, define a sales strategy, set up a business, and grant licensing for the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tec de Monterrey has now launched a platform called Science Connexion<\/a> to help researchers get their foot in the door, where they can access calls for proposals, courses, and services from the Office itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\r\n \r\n \"\"\r\n <\/picture>
Infographics: Oldemar Gonz\u00e1lez \/ TecScience<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

TTO success stories<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Manuel Mac\u00edas worked for years on research into virtual instrumentation, which includes remote laboratories and Artificial Intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the researcher has now taken his company Laiboyan to China, where they will be looking to provide the Asian market with an option for virtual laboratories, while they continue to provide service to the Mexican market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A similar case is that of Edgar Raygoza<\/strong><\/a>, a doctoral student of Engineering Sciences with a specialization in nanofluids, who was conducting research into the use of nanotechnology in additives such as industrial lubricants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI come from a technical background and my career is in engineering, so I\u2019m not connected to the business side. When I started studying for a Ph.D., my plan was to go out and work for a company as a technologist in that area,\u201d recalls Raygoza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, during his studies, he decided that his research project should be more than just a publication. Although he didn\u2019t feel capable of setting up a business, he found an answer in the TTO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite having no business experience, they trusted his technology and provided support to patent it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His company, Global Nano Additives, has now been part of entrepreneurship programs such as one at Tel Aviv University in Israel and even received an award from the Technological Innovation Fund set up by the Ministry of Trade and the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\r\n \r\n \"\"\r\n <\/picture>
Infographics: Oldemar Gonz\u00e1lez \/ TecScience<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pull and push approaches<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are two approaches for going from research to technology transfer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The push approach<\/a><\/strong> is one in which researchers do their jobs and answer questions posed by themselves or based on other scientific research, while the outcome may or may not answer a current need of society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, the pull approach<\/strong> seeks to provide a solution to a social question or one from a company or organization and then conducts research, occasionally funded by that quarter. Silicon Valley is precisely one of the places where this approach is popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There, institutions such as the University of California have founded more than 1,125 companies based on research and patents<\/a>, generating more than 18,400 jobs and an investment return of 14 billion dollars in 2014 alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the TTO, Tec de Monterrey is now seeking to promote greater participation of its researchers in the latter approach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n