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STRATEGIES TO CLOSE THE GENDER GAP 705

work-life balance. While start-up companies are • Recruit women entrepreneurs as mentors.
an important avenue for commercializing technol- Whether these female entrepreneurs create
ogy, they are not the only way! University start-up a new university start-up company or mentor
success stories tend to gain the most coverage from existing start-up companies, their presence
the press, but far more patents are licensed to exist- in the university ecosystem will have a positive
ing companies with pre-existing infrastructure for impact
product development, manufacturing, marketing, • Recruit women as investors. Any serious
and sales. AUTM data from 2015 shows that of the attempt to encourage women to participate
7,157 licenses and options executed, only 1,250 were in entrepreneurship must also make an effort
issued to start-up companies (17%). Further, even if a to ensure that women are included in making
start-up company is the ideal route for commercializ- start-up investment decisions. This conscious
ing the technology, the inventor need not be the chief inclusion of women extends from the boards
executive officer or even the chief technology officer. who make funding decisions for university-
TTOs can highlight their programs for recruiting administered business plan competitions to
external entrepreneurs to lead start-up companies. angel and venture capital investors who might
Some additional suggestions include: be interested in a particular technology
• Proactively recruit successful women inno-
vators to mentor and encourage their colleagues Emphasize Societal Impact
to engage in technology commercialization as Many university faculty are motivated more by the
a practical activity social impact of innovation than by potential financial
• Create opportunities for faculty with experi- rewards. In order to engage with this group, TTOs
ence in technology commercialization to men- can actively collaborate with inventors to identify the
tor their colleagues. Since there are fewer potential social impact of the inventions described
female faculty who have successfully commer- in patents and other forms of IP. In a more univer-
cialized a technology, a mentor might work sity-wide forum, TTOs can communicate examples
with pairs of female faculty members (who of patents commercialized to provide societal benefit
and include different options employed to attract
could also provide support for each other as
they learn about the critical processes). the investments that enabled the innovation to be
Innovation fellowships that provide some brought to the consumer to address a public need. In
salary support can be useful to provide mentors so doing, TTOs can begin to change the conversation
with dedicated time to spend with committed and bring a new group of innovators to the table.
colleagues Other suggestions include:
• Explain the difference between commercial- • Add a question on the invention disclosure
ization and entrepreneurship. University TTOs form inviting the inventors to define the poten-
should make certain that faculty are aware that tial social impact of successful commercial-
most technologies are actually licensed to exist- ization of their invention
ing companies—not to start-up companies. • Host speakers who have commercialized prod-
It is easy for the message of the importance of ucts that have improved and even saved lives
licensing to be lost in the hype of the buzz
around start-up companies. It is important for SUMMARY
TTOs to communicate the message that a University TTOs have the opportunity to impact
faculty inventor can engage in technology participation in the technology commercialization
commercialization by licensing the technology pipeline from its earliest stages through to licensing
to existing companies—without ever having and even investment. Members of the technology
to leave the university and play the role of transfer profession are often attracted to the field
entrepreneur! because of the admirable work of connecting research