The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station’s (TEES) Office of Commercialization and Entrepreneurship is responsible for the intellectual property management, venture creation and commercialization of ideas emerging from the Texas A&M University College of Engineering. The Texas A&M College of Engineering is one of the largest engineering programs in the nation, with 725 faculty members and 22,500 students.
As part of The Texas A&M University System, TEES primarily focuses on basic and applied research in engineering areas spanning different research enterprises within the Texas A&M System. Systemwide, research and development expenditures total more than $1 billion.
As a state agency, TEES also has a Texaswide mandate to advance commercialization and economic development through venture creation and innovation programs. The Office of Commercialization and Entrepreneurship manages this large innovation ecosystem through our three groups. These groups are Licensing and IP Management, DeepTech Ventures and Strategic Projects.
Invention and Commercialization Process
Our office works with all researchers from the inception of ideas through the various stages of the invention and commercialization process, including:
- Invention disclosure facilitation and management – We work with researchers and faculty to provide advice about the invention disclosure process and its impact on the protection strategies for maximizing commercialization potential of the idea.
- Intellectual property protection – Our intellectual property team provides hands-on guidance in planning an effective patent, copyright or trademark strategy and works closely with outside counsels to carry out the necessary protection strategy.
- Licensing – Our licensing team performs in-depth technical and market assessments and actively markets technologies to industry partners. The team also works closely with the Sponsored Research Program office in matters to related intellectual property terms in industry research agreements.
- Start-up assistance – We analyze potential opportunities to form a start-up based upon Texas A&M technology, and encourage active participation with inventors who prefer to participate in the start-up journey. We also advise faculty members on The Texas A&M University System’s policies and procedures, including external employment and conflict-of-interest issues.
- Building a robust entrepreneurship ecosystem - We help our researchers with various programs, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps), to facilitate the learning of the processes needed to validate the commercialization potential of their technologies. We also conduct statewide events like the Texas A&M New Ventures Competition to support early-stage technology companies through commercialization training and give awards to advance their innovation.
- Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) - EIR staff members provide their expertise. Typical involvement includes large proposals, as well as work alongside our licensing team to provide support to principal investigators in large multidisciplinary grants. Staff members bring their project management and commercialization experience by integrating themselves with the project team. They have also mentored the I-Corps teams for the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Defense.
Impact
We continuously have a significant impact on the College of Engineering and our community.
From fiscal year 2013 to fiscal year 2021:
- Our office processed 642 invention disclosures.
- The Texas A&M College of Engineering filed a total of 1,068 patent applications.
- The College of Engineering was issued 765 cumulative patents in the United States and worldwide.
- Our office maintains 844 active intellectual property licenses (cumulative total).