Release date: March 18, 2024
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In the world of technology transfer, few names carry as much weight as Katharine Ku. As the former Executive Director of Stanford University’s Office of Technology Licensing, Katharine spent 27 years shaping one of the most successful university tech transfer offices in the world. Under her leadership, Stanford licensed hundreds of groundbreaking technologies, generating $1.8 billion in revenue — including a license for the search algorithm that would later become Google. Now, as the Chief Licensing Advisor at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Katharine gets a view from the other side of the table, working with startups to commercialize university innovations.
In this episode of The Transfer Files, we dive into Katharine’s journey, including how she built Stanford’s tech licensing office into one of the most successful in the country, her philosophy on taking chances when it comes to licensing, and the biggest challenges tech transfer offices face today. Katharine shares the story behind the Nine Points to Consider in Licensing University Technology, which is a framework she helped create that guides universities in making licensing decisions to benefit both researchers and the public.
Katharine also reflects on how the role of tech transfer offices has expanded beyond just licensing. More and more, they’re being asked to support entrepreneurship, provide funding, and help build startup ecosystems. She talks about how universities are trying to balance these responsibilities while still keeping their core mission in focus. Whether you're an entrepreneur, researcher, or just curious about how university research turns into real-world products, this conversation is full of insights you won’t want to miss.
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In This Episode:
[01:52] During Katharine's early career, she was a serial job changer. She noticed a posting at Stanford for a patent engineer. She thought she might give it a shot, since she had a patent at Monsanto and she was also an engineer.
[02:54] This was at the end of 1979. She was involved in the tech transfer profession in the very early years.
[03:21] She became president of AUTM in 1988.
[04:10] She led the Stanford Office of Technology for 27 years.
[05:31] Stanford was always very entrepreneurial and supportive of the faculty.
[06:15] They've always believed in marketing and the philosophy of taking chances. The goal was to move the research results into the private sector in order to help the public.
[07:56] With the cradle-to-grave model you have to know everything along the path of innovation.
[08:15] The vision for the Stanford office was to do as many licenses as possible.
[09:20] Google came out of Stanford.
[11:26] Katharine talks about the Nine Points to Consider in Licensing University Technology.
[13:54] The first point had to do with retaining the right for people at our university and other universities to practice any invention a university would file on.
[15:29] This was an example of a university's understanding of the broader mission of tech transfer.
[16:07] Challenges include having to do more and more. They have more responsibility to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem.
[18:28] Advice for bridging the gap between universities and industry.
[19:57] Katharine talks about her role at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
[21:25] Advice includes being at the intersection of technology, science, business, and law, as well as university, industry, and government, making it a very exciting field. There's endless things to learn. Stay curious!