by Catherine Murari-Kanti, UNeMed | October 14, 2019

Scott Mulder (left) and Quinn Nelson discuss their project during the 2019 Tech Transfer Boot Camp at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Boot Camp is hosted by UNeMed, the tech transfer and commercialization office for UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Medical students, graduate students and research technicians and scientists from UNMC, UNO and UNL filled out UNeMed’s fourth Technology Transfer Boot Camp, held Aug. 12-16, 2019. The Boot Camp provides a comprehensive understanding of technology transfer and research commercialization.

Catherine Murari-Kanti, PhD, (right) leads the UNeMed’s Tech Transfer Boot Camp. At left is UNeMed intern A.J. Crawford.

A combination of classroom instruction and interactive team-based activities allowed the students to experience what it would be like to work in a technology transfer office. They evaluated real inventions and performed prior art searches while learning to navigate intellectual property law, technology marketing, contract negotiation and entrepreneurship. They worked as teams to develop marketing strategies, draft confidential and non-confidential invention summaries and participate in mock licensing negotiations. At the end of the Boot Camp, each team presented their findings to the UNeMed team, and the UNeMed team, in turn, quizzed the students about their conclusions.

The UNeMed Boot Camp provides an option for graduate students looking into alternative career options, and helps prepare them for better internship opportunities at university technology transfer offices or business development positions in industry.

The 2019 Boot Camp garnered enough interest from University faculty that UNeMed is considering plans for a faculty-only technology transfer workshops in 2020. If you are interested, please reach out to Catherine Murari-Kanti at catherine.murari@unmc.edu.