This year´s seminar for university leaders and decision-makers at higher education ministries in the German Länder was dedicated to the theme “Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Rights in the United States” and took place from September 23 to 28, 2007. It afforded 20 German participants the opportunity to learn about technology transfer and intellectual property rights in the context of higher education management in the United States. The seminar covered a wide range of topics including the management and governance of tech transfer at American universities, the role of key stakeholders, the interrelationship between university, industry and government, and the financing of technology transfer. Visiting the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Illinois Institute of Technology, the participants met with “best-practice models” that also afforded the participants to investigate university business startups, the issue of licensing and the value of license revenue to U.S. institutions, as well as questions concerning intellectual property rights. The German experts brought a wealth of insights and information back to their home institutions where tech transfer plays an ever increasing role not only for the profile of individual German universities, but also for our national renown in research, science, and innovation.

The Educational Experts Seminar