Dedicated to Discovery. Committed to Care.

Office of Research and Technology Ventures

Commercializing Technology

Process

  1. Discovery
    Research activities at Dana-Farber often lead to observations or discoveries that may be of commercial interest. See What to Disclose for details on the types of inventions that should be disclosed to ORTV.
  2. Disclosure
    The process of commercialization begins when investigators submit an invention disclosure to ORTV. The invention disclosure form is used to create a formalized written description of an invention. See Submit an Invention Disclosure for more detail.
  3. Evaluation
    ORTV works with the Office of General Counsel (OGC) to evaluate each disclosure based on patentability and commercial potential. See Review Process for more detail.
  4. Patenting
    Patenting is the most common method of protecting intellectual property. OGC will work with outside patent attorneys and invention participants to file a patent application.
  5. Marketing
    ORTV will identify companies with the necessary expertise and resources to bring the technology to market.
  6. Licensing
    A license grants the company the right to develop and commercially exploit an invention owned by Dana-Farber. In exchange, the company will provide financial compensation to Dana-Farber.
  7. Product Development
    The company invests the resources necessary to develop a product and gain regulatory approval if necessary.
  8. Public Availability
    Once a product has been fully developed, the company mobilizes its sales, marketing, and distribution divisions to ensure the product is released to the public.