The Role and Importance of Technology Transfer Offices in University-Industry Cooperation

For industrial establishments to survive under changing competitive conditions, maintain and strengthen their competitive market position has become increasingly important. According to the 2015-2016 Global Entrepreneurship Report, 20% of newly established companies fail and end their ventures by the end of their first year [1]. In the "Established/Closed Company Statistics" data of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey for January 2018, 9,535 companies were established and 2,211 companies were closed [2]. The fact that both newly established and closed companies rank in the top three categories respectively in "wholesale and retail trade," "manufacturing," and "construction" sectors represents a "valley of death" for ventures, while also signaling a conventional sectoral turnover. Redirecting this turnover toward a new systematic approach that adds value to the country's economy and focuses on outputs with high research and innovation components is only possible through "collaboration."

Turkey's Innovation Ecosystem and Players

"Innovation," derived from the Latin word "innovatus" meaning "to make something new and different," has become indispensable for industrialists aiming to survive amid today's intense competitive conditions. However, it should not be forgotten that, as Marcel Proust said, "the real voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but in seeing with new eyes" [3]. The path for everyone seeking innovation and newness passes through broadening one's perspective. When this awareness is disseminated across the country through the combination of all stakeholders' competencies, it will facilitate the acquisition of this broader perspective. For many years, companies in developed countries achieved innovation by using their own research and development (R&D) resources. However, changing market conditions and the failure to transform developed patents and technologies into market products and services have prompted companies to look beyond their R&D resources and begin efforts to increase their competencies. According to historians, the first studies on University-Industry Collaboration (UIC) are based on partnerships between industries in Europe and researchers in universities during the 19th century. University-industry collaboration in the United States also emerged with the Second Industrial Revolution, with early examples seen at Harvard and MIT in the late 19th century [4]. This collaborative approach, called "Open Innovation," has provided numerous American, European, and Far Eastern companies with competitive advantages over their rivals. For Turkish companies to increase both their national and international competitiveness and bring innovative products and services to market quickly and cost-effectively while adding value to the country's economy, all players in the innovation ecosystem—universities, research centers, companies, entrepreneurs, umbrella organizations, funding providers, and investors—must create an effective working network.

Technology Transfer Office Concept and Its Role in the Innovation Ecosystem

One of the structures that continues active work to enable multifaceted collaboration is the "Technology Transfer Offices (TTO)," which first began operating in our country in 2012. As is known, TTOs are structures that work to enable higher education institutions to collaborate with public and private sectors on R&D and innovation, protect knowledge produced and inventions made under intellectual property rights, and transfer them into practice. TTOs established under the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) 1513 TTO Support Program provide services under 5 modules in a results-oriented and personalized manner, aiming for more effective use of knowledge accumulation in universities by industry. Due to the different priorities and perspectives of universities and business, TTOs are positioned as intermediaries for successful technology transfer [5].

In this regard;

• Awareness, promotion, information and training services, • Services for benefiting from support programs, • Project development and management services, • Intellectual industrial property rights management and licensing services, and • Company formation and entrepreneurship services. Through these comprehensive activities, it aims to interact with each stakeholder in the innovation ecosystem, design and develop value-added outputs, and contribute them to the country's economy.

ÖzÜ TTO Best Practices

Özyeğin University was founded in 2007 with the vision of "being an entrepreneurial research university." Following TÜBİTAK's announcement of the 1513 Technology Transfer Office Program, it applied and became one of the first-generation representatives of TTOs in Turkey. The mission of ÖzÜ TTO is to encourage innovation, increase research projects and industry collaborations conducted within ÖzÜ, and ensure that results obtained and intellectual property-based technologies are transformed into useful products and services that benefit society. Providing quick and correct solutions to needs, supporting academics and industry at every stage of project development, establishing effective communication, and through proper planning and teamwork, expanding and strengthening the existing collaboration network, which includes many sector-leading companies, are core objectives. With this mission, ÖzÜ TTO continues activities in many areas to meet industry needs: • Matching R&D needs with academics' areas of expertise, • UIC project development services (content, budget, contract management, financial support), • Intellectual and industrial property rights management (patent research, applications, follow-up), • Project writing and management training, • Fund project writing and management consulting, • R&D center establishment and sustainability consulting, • Commercialization process consulting, among many other areas.

Since its establishment, Özyeğin University has provided faculty members with one day of administrative leave per week to increase university-industry collaboration, and gives importance and priority to industry collaboration interactions and commercialization processes in academic performance criteria.

Adopting the third-generation "open university" concept, ÖzÜ emphasizes the development and acceleration of industry collaborations. As is known, an open university is one that has transformed into a dynamic structure that is directly included in social and economic development plans in the region where universities are located, provides continuous education and consulting services to relevant sectors to enable local industry and service sectors to develop, and can provide R&D services with research infrastructure in every area where industry needs. As a result of this vision and effective activities conducted by ÖzÜ TTO between 2013 and 2017, communication was established with 237 leading sector companies, and by the end of 2017, total research volume in industry-partnered grant projects reached TRY 19.9 million, and in university-industry collaboration projects, TRY 10.5 million. In the goal of entering the world's 10 largest economies by 2023, another important focus is on patentable and commercializable technologies. In this regard, ÖzÜ, starting with the invention notification process and correct strategy, has correctly positioned its multi-faceted decision-making and evaluation system through the Intellectual Property Rights Committee it established. Through this, it has achieved 63 patents and 4 commercialization successes resulting from university-industry collaboration. Another innovative approach in which Özyeğin University is engaged to conduct more effective collaboration with industry is the "Industry 4.0 Excellence Center for Digital Transformation of SMEs" project, which received funding under the Competitive Sectors Program and was developed jointly with the White Goods Suppliers Association (BEYSAD) and the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen Association (TUSİAD). With the Industry 4.0 Excellence Center to be positioned within the ÖzÜ campus in 2019, comprehensive services are aimed at all entrepreneurs and companies, particularly SMEs, in Industry 4.0 transformation.

Maximization is Possible in UIC!

To maximize university-industry collaboration and "see with different eyes," both academics must take a step toward industry and industry must take a step toward academics. For example: • Both sides must adopt the awareness that they can meet on common ground in UIC, • The perception that academia and industry speak two different languages must be broken, • Industry must be in active interaction with TTOs that provide services in many areas such as project development, writing, and management for industry access to academic knowledge in universities, • Industry must not view academic consulting solely as a prerequisite for benefiting from high-budget national funds, but rather as a driving force that is essential in collaboration processes, • Universities must create alternative models that can provide faster solutions to industry needs in academia, • Steps must be taken toward transforming the existing infrastructure and opportunities available to universities into an attractive center preferred by all industrial establishments. Furthermore, in university-industry collaboration contract processes, the most heated discussions between TTO officials representing the university and company officials on the other side occur over clauses related to intellectual and industrial property rights of the contract [6]. In addressing this problem, it is quite important for industry to develop a new perspective on creating and disseminating a mentality of "shared ownership of rights in jointly conducted work." Since the primary reason for universities' demand for patent ownership is not commercial return, but rather obtaining concrete outputs for contribution to the "Entrepreneurial and Innovative University Index" published annually by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) and the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology (BSTB). While there are opportunities in university-industry collaboration, there are also many challenges. To overcome the challenges encountered, each stakeholder in the innovation ecosystem must, within the framework of mutual understanding and observing the win-win principle, set concrete outputs as their objective. Throughout the process, it should not be forgotten that TTOs, with support from universities designing work with vision for the coming decade, are "the wind beneath the wings" for taking industry further. Cansu Musaoğlu - University-Industry Collaboration Specialist Technology Transfer Office Özyeğin University

References [1]. Kelley D., Singer S., Herrington M., "2015/16 Global Report", Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, May 2016. [2]. Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, Information Access Directorate, Established Closed Company Statistics January 2018 https://www.tobb.org.tr/BilgiErisimMudurlugu/Documents/ResmiDosya/2018/2018-01.xls [3]. Kelly T. "Başarılı Bir Şirket İçin Fark Yaratan 10 İnovasyon Şifresi", MediaCat Kitapları, Basım Kasım 2012, s. 37. [4]. Erdil E., Pamukçu M.T., Akçomak İ.S., Erden Y., "Değişen Üniversite-Sanayi İşbirliğinde Üniversite Örgütlenmesi", Ankara Üniversitesi SBF Dergisi, Cilt 68, No. 2, 2013, s. 95 – 127 [5]. Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, TÜBİTAK 1513 Technology Transfer Offices Support Program, "Project Proposal Form Preparation Guide", 2014 [6] Tutkun Berk G., "Üniversite Sanayi İş birliği Projelerinde Buluşun Hak Sahipliğinin Belirlenmesi Sorunu", iprgezgini.org Web Sitesi, 30 January 2017.