National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer Free (!) Online Research Commercialization Course

The National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer (NCET2) is offering a free 10-lecture online course titled, “Research Commercialization Introductory Course.”  The course is co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Academy of Inventors and the National Science Foundation. The course is “designed to help science and engineering researchers better understand how research commercialization works. Over 5000 students, faculty and researchers from across the US have taken this course since it's been offered.”  The course is further described as:

Research commercialization involves taking articles, documentation, know-how, patents, and copyrights, which are created during research activities and getting them to users and patients for real societal impacts. In some cases, commercialization involved taking patents based on the research and licensing them to a company. This usually involves also having the researchers consult to the company. In other cases, commercialization involves forming of creating a startup and applying to federally funded commercialization programs. In all cases, though, research commercialization typically involves defining the nature of the research being commercialized (e.g., in a patent or intellectual property agreement), establishing a commercial relationship with another party (e.g., employment, a sale or license), and negotiating a contract (e.g., compensation).

Areas covered in the course include intellectual property, patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, licensing agreements, employment agreements, consulting agreements, tech transfer, creating and funding companies, and federally funded Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs

Each lecture is a live 90-minute online class with Q&A.

Here is the course schedule:

CLASS SCHEDULE

Lecture 1: Patents Thursday, November 14, 2013 , 1:00 to 2:30 pm ET

Lecture 2: The Importance of Commercializing Research Friday, November 15, 2013 , 1:00 to 2:30 pm ET

Lecture 3: Copyright, Trademarks and Trade Secrets Tuesday, November 19, 2013 , 1:00 to 2:30 pm ET

Lecture 4: Employment and Consulting Agreements Thursday, November 21, 2013 , 1:00 to 2:30 pm ET

Lecture 5: Tech Transfer and Licensing Agreements Tuesday, November 26, 2013 , 1:00 to 2:30 pm ET

Lecture 6: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grants Monday, December 2, 2013 , 1:00 to 2:30 pm ET

Lecture 7: Introduction to Early Stage Funding Wednesday, December 4, 2013 , 1:00 to 2:30 pm ET

Lecture 8: Introduction to Structuring and Leading the Research-Intensive Company Friday, December 6, 2013 , 1:00 to 2:30 pm ET

Lecture 9: Moving from R&D to Manufacturing Monday, December 9, 2013 , 1:00 to 2:30 pm ET

Lecture 10: View from the Trenches: Applying what you have Learned Thursday, December 12, 2013 , 1:00 to 2:30 pm ET

This looks like a great program and you can’t beat the price of “free.”  For more information about the course and to register, see here.  (Hat tip to Steven Ferguson at the National Institutes of Health).