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The Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization (OTTC) will assist researchers and inventors at Nova Southeastern University to fulfill the commercial potential of their innovations. Our staff will work closely to assist researchers through the entire process of translation of research from invention disclosure to commercialization.
If you think you have a patentable idea or invention or even if you are not sure about the next best step for your invention, we will be happy to evaluate your innovation and create a roadmap for its commercialization.
We would encourage researchers to go through the sequence of steps outlined on our website and then reach out to us to initiate a consultation with our technology transfer professionals.
On this page, you will find information regarding working with our technology transfer professionals and the various steps involved in the process of technology transfer.
Identifying a Patentable Invention
The first essential step in the technology transfer process is to identify/determine whether your invention is patentable. For an invention to be patentable it must be novel, non-obvious and useful.
There are three ways you can recognize whether you have an invention.
- Your discovery meets a need or solves an existing problem.
- You have promising scientific data or a working prototype device.
- You are not aware of prior art. Prior art is information (e.g. publications, posters, abstracts etc.) which describes any part of your discovery that is publicly available.
A member of our team will be pleased to assist you in assessing whether your research is a patentable invention. If you are not sure whether your invention is patentable or marketable please call email OTTC at ott@nova.edu. The OTTC will evaluate your invention from the perspective of its technology, product and market opportunity, patentability, competition, and research direction.
It is in everyone’s best interest for your invention to be commercialized if it is patentable and has marketable value. If your invention has commercial possibilities, the OTTC will make every effort to find a commercial partner with whom to license your invention.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you have any plans of protecting the IP and commercializing your invention the invention disclosure form (IDF) must be submitted to the OTTC. This will enable OTTC staff to initiate the process of IP protection. Submission of the IDF to OTTC must be done before the research is disclosed to the public in any form (article submissions, poster or oral presentation in symposiums, book chapters etc.). Inventors should be aware that once it has been declared to the public in any manner, an invention is most likely to be ineligible for IP protection.
It is ideal to file an IDF as soon as you have evaluated your invention and believe it to be novel, patentable, and of commercial value. An IDF should be filed before any findings of your research related to this invention is made public.
If you have not submitted an invention disclosure form to OTTC, please do not discuss, present, or publish any data associated with your invention. This includes any sort of grant submission, publication, and presentation by you or members of your research team. Publicly disclosing your research prior to filing a patent application can have substantial negative effects on the ability to protect the intellectual property. If it is essential for you to present your research to an external audience, it should be only done after both parties have signed a mutual Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA).
The first step in the protection of your intellectual property is the submission of a provisional patent application. From the beginning to end, the process of issuing of a patent may take up to 6 or 7 years.
For submitting an invention disclosure, you will have to fill out the official Invention Disclosure Form according to the instructions and email it to one of the technology transfer staff at OTTC. Here is a link to download NSU’s Invention Disclosure Form.
The inventor(s) (NSU faculty, student, or staff) will not have to pay for the protection of intellectual property. As long as NSU has the ownership of the patent, NSU will pay for all the expenses associated with management of it. If NSU decides not to proceed with further patent prosecution or chooses to cease marketing the invention for any reason, the invention will be reassigned to the inventor(s). In such cases the inventor(s) will be responsible for the patent associated expenses if they wish to continue with patent protection and commercialization on their own.
The University has a fair and reasonable revenue sharing policy. The inventor(s) will not have to spend any financial resources for managing the intellectual property and its marketing but they will get a substantial proportion of the total revenue generated through the commercialization of their inventions. The details are outlined in NSU's revenue sharing policy.
You can call the NSU OTTC or reach us through email at ott@nova.edu . You can also communicate directly to one of the OTTC staff members through their email listed on this website. Find their names and contact information.
Our technology transfer staff will strive to ensure successful commercialization of your invention. We will keep you informed throughout the process and seek your opinion and input whenever we deem necessary. It must be kept in mind that each invention is unique and chances of successful commercialization also varies substantially. The potential for commercialization of an invention is influenced by multiple factors such as process of its translation, timeline of IP protection and demand among prospective licensees, which are beyond the control of the technology transfer staff.
The first step in the process of technology transfer is the submission of the invention disclosure by the inventor(s). Once we receive the invention disclosure form, we will evaluate the invention for its novelty, patentability, and commercial value. If it is suitable for further development and IP management, the OTT staff will work with outside patent counsel to protect and manage the IP. The next step would be to initiate the process of commercialization either through licensing to an external partner or through formation of a spinoff. While we are in the process of commercialization we will also continue managing the IP and have continuing discussions with the inventor(s) to facilitate further development of the technology. You can refer to the flowchart on our website for an overview of the technology transfer process.