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Thickness of Line Indicates Level of Activity

Figure 2. BU OTD “data flow” interface map (10).

culty understanding why “Exploiters” (industry, disclosures at the top and licenses to industry at the
VCs, and entrepreneurs) capture most of the bottom. Platforms are upending pipeline businesses
value from their inventions. Each side needs a in many industries. For platforms, community (not
better appreciation of the value added by the products) is the primary driver, and institutions
other. need to shift their focus from internal to external
We applied the above lessons to create a new plat- activities. Most TTOs operate by pushing inventions
form-centric technology transfer process embodied to potential industry licensees. In a TTO platform
by the motto Maximize Collisions, Minimize model, faculty inventions would be pulled by relevant
Friction . industry innovation needs. Platforms scale by using
SM
network effects (11) to create value for the parties
PLATFORM BUSINESS MODELS on the platform. Minimizing friction both for entry
Platforms of “facilitated business exchanges” have and in transactions can magnify platform network
effects.
existed for a long time, but it is just recently, with Platforms create value broadly using two methods
the growth of the internet, that they have become
significant growth engines of the economy. Indus- (12):
tries as diverse as music, banking, transportation, 1. Multi-sided marketplaces that are transaction
health care, and energy are being transformed by oriented (13) (examples of such platforms are
new entrants leveraging platform business models. Amazon, Uber, Airbnb, eBay).
Traditional services and products are built around 2. Innovation platforms that use open interfaces
pipelines with raw material coming in one end and to attract an ecosystem (example of such plat-
consumer products going out the other. As men- forms are Apple App Store, Windows, Sales-
tioned above, most TTOs also operate on a pipeline force).
funnel, with research funding-initiated invention