The recent donation of intellectual property from Kimberly-Clark to Rensselaer comes at a time when Rensselaer is creating an infrastructure with which to base their patent rights on student and faculty course materials and inventions.
The gift, in the form of two patents, is not only a stepping stone for Rensselaer in commercializing its intellectual properties but also the best example of what an intellectual property is. For most, intellectual property is thought of as something extraordinary that would only come to the “chosen ones.” But little do we know that almost every new idea that comes to minds is intellectual property.
“I think the best way to define intellectual property is the property from neck and above,” said Chuck Rancourt, director of the Technology Commercialization Office.
“It deals with creativity and comes out as a result of exploration of technology. It gives the right to our mind,” he continued.
At Rensselaer, intellectual property comes under the Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC). The office was started back in 1990 and has achieved much since then; the office has 80 active patents and more than 100 pending.
“Under President Jackson’s policy in The Rensselaer Plan, we are trying to develop awareness and infrastructure of intellectual property rights policies, incentives, and marketing to support innovation and commercialization,” cited Rancourt.
“The main objective of this office is to serve Rensselaer’s faculty, students, staff, and alumni. Everybody is welcome to bring in their invention which they think has the possibility to be commercialized,” said Rancourt
“We are acting as a middleman to the people here in Rensselaer, they create something and we find the right people to sell it,” added Paul Fredette, assistant director of the OTC.
The office works closely with the incubator center and technology park to keep up with the current development of research programs and with entrepreneurship division of The Lally School and corporate relations in the President’s office for business purposes.
According to Rancourt, Rensselaer had 70 invention disclosures in the fiscal year 2002—more than double that of previous years—while commercialization deals now total nine.
With “entrepreneurship across the curriculum,” OTC, with help from Rensselaer alumni, is also involved in making in-class presentations on intellectual property, patents, and licensing. In addition to that, there is also a course on the subject of Commercializing Advanced Technology taught by management professor Gina O’Connor.
To better serve the school, OTC has also hosted a Patent Day and an Intellectual Property Career Forum and Career Fair. It continues with creating a listserv and affinity group to serve alumni in the patenting and licensing fields.
