Survival Kit VII. Co-operation with South Moravian Institutions TTO – Technology Transfer Office at the Brno University of Technology

TTO – Technology Transfer Office at the Brno University of Technology

Technology Transfer Office at Brno University of Technology

Brno University of Technology (BUT) is the only complex technical university in the South-Moravian region. Next to the education in accredited study programmes and extensive scientific research, the university contributes significantly to the knowledge and technology transfer towards businesses. This activity is administered by Technology Transfer Office (TTO) which serves as intermediary between the academic community and the application sphere, between a scientist and a businessman. Technology Transfer Office has operated at BUT since the year 2002, during this time, almost 700 hundred employees’ inventions were legally protected.

Support of Business and Academic Collaboration

TTO consistently supports the cooperation with businesses in the form of a contract research or a joint participation in the grant projects, both Czech and international. TTO plays a crucial role as “first contact” body. Following the preliminary analysis of partner’s requirements, TTO finds and recommends matching scientific team which consequently executes the collaboration. Methodical and legal support is provided for both long-established and new collaborative teams.

At a current time, BUT collaborates with many significant business entities, in particular Siemens, Honeywell, IBM, Škoda Auto, ABB, ŽĎAS, Zetor, Tatra Kopřivnice, ALTA, OHL ŽS, Microsoft, Chemopetrol, Gumotex, Tescan Volkswagen, Adobe, Touchless Biometric Systems AG, Skanska, Slovácké strojírny, Redrock Construction and many more.

Commercialization of Research Results

TTO plays a key role regarding assessment of knowledge and technology created at BUT and of their practical application and feasible commercialization. This is carried out by Technology Transfer Managers who are appointed to the faculties based on their specialization. Unique results created at BUT are offered to potential users through the BUT website, fairs, international databases, or directly by authors. BUT’s overall goal is to spread innovative solutions to industrial sphere so that technological growth and development within society is supported.

Research results or know-how is transferred by licencing or as pre-existing knowledge of a joint research. Only in the first half of 2020, the amount of income stemming from licencing reached 1,6 million CZK. On top of that, an effective mean of transferring knowledge is a spin-off company. Spin-off company is a company funded by BUT’s employees who are using university’s intellectual property. As one of the most successful spin-offs can surely be named Flowmon Networks company that introduced new solution to management and performance of networks security. At a moment, the company employs about 130 people, has over 1200 customers all over the world and opened new office in San Diego (USA) in 2019. Faculty of Civil Engineering’s employees funded ConWe, a spin-off company successfully dealing with wastewater cleaning. The newest member of the spin-off family is NetX Networks from Faculty of Information Technology that offers high-speed network platform.

Researchers from BUT are ready to respond to current issues and needs of society. In the light of fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic currently afflicting the world, scientists and students from Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication designed protective half-mask printable also at a common 3D printer. A free licence for personal use only was provided online to anyone, meanwhile a commercial licence was granted to a couple of companies in order to produce and sell these masks. The number of licensees eligible to use HYPERFIT software by Dr. Skácel, a tool for hyperelastic constitutive models, reaches almost 100 and these licensees are spread worldwide, from Mexico to South Korea.

Intellectual Property Protection

TTO suggests and executes fitting way of legal protection of unique knowledge and technology, mostly in the form of national or international patents and utility models, industrial designs, and trademarks. Next to that, TTO takes care of BUT’s patent portfolio (consisting of almost 700 announced employees’ inventions; from which about 1200 legal protections are stemming) as well as a patent fund.

Traditionally, most outstanding patents are invented in cooperation with industrial partners. To demonstrate, internationally protected rescue parachutes for unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) invented together with Galaxy GRS can be introduced. In sporadic occasions, the patent portfolio is enriched by inventions jointly created also by students. For instance, a new design of a nozzle for firemen sport protected by utility model is at a moment being successfully introduced to the market and the inventor, student Filip Páral, has started his business career. Despite BUT being mainly technical university, research overlaps to the life sciences and medicine as well. Recently, a patent application concerning one-of-a-kind design and technology of insertion of knee-joint implant invented at Faculty of Mechanical Engineering by prof. Píška was filed. Its key feature enables preservation of healthy bone while only damaged part of the knee is replaced by individually designed implant.

Services for business partners:

Collaboration on strategic research projects
Licencing first-class technologies
Measurements, analysis, or expertise
Contract research based on the individual needs

Services for scientists:

Protection of research results
Legal support
Business case consultation
Educational events

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Brno University of Technology AdMaS – Advanced Materials, Structures and Technologies

Brno University of Technology
Technology Transfer Office
Antonínská 548/1, 601 90 Brno