A colleague, Chris Wright at the University of Tulsa, recently sparked a vital conversation on LinkedIn regarding the "uncomfortable truths" of university innovation. He noted that while roughly 84% of University Tech Transfer Offices (TTOs) operate in the red, the institutions seeing the greatest long-term impact aren't necessarily those with the most "blockbuster" licenses.
Instead, they are the ones that invest in talent commercialization.
Chris’s point struck a chord because it’s a philosophy we have championed at NYU for over a decade. As I often say to our teams: “There are many startups with no patents, but there are no startups with no founders.”
The Innovation Flywheel
At the NYU Leslie Entrepreneurial Institute, we view the relationship between the university and the founder as a virtuous cycle, a flywheel that gains momentum with every student and researcher we support.
While patents and licensing agreements are important tools, they are static. They sit on shelves. Innovation doesn't live in a filing cabinet; it lives in people. When we invest in a founder, particularly the grad students and postdocs who are the "boots on the ground" in our labs, we are investing in a living engine of economic and societal growth.
The Long Game: Entrepreneurs Who Give Back
The financial reality of higher education is shifting. While licensing revenue is often a gamble on a one-in-a-million patent, the ROI on alumni success is a proven historical driver. At NYU, the names on our buildings and schools are those of entrepreneurs, even if we didn't call them that back in the day. The Tisches, Kimmels, Langones, Paulsons, Sterns, Silvers, Liptons, and Berkleys of our community were all founders who didn't make their fortunes working for someone else. They started something, whether it was in law, insurance, real estate, or even pet supplies.
By focusing on talent commercialization, we aren't just trying to sell a technology. We are building a relationship with a future leader who will eventually return to campus as a mentor, a speaker, an investor, and/or a donor.
Why Humans (Specifically You) Start Startups
For our faculty and researchers, the message is simple: Your research has the power to change the world, but it needs a champion. We know that the real technology transfer happens via humans, not legal documents. For a research-based startup to survive, it requires a technical founder who is willing to step out of the lab and into the market to explore, validate and ultimately build a business model.
- To our Faculty: We want to help you de-risk your commercial pathways without requiring you to abandon your research.
- To our PhDs and Postdocs: In an era where academic roles are increasingly competitive, the technical founder path is a powerful way to apply your expertise to real-world problems.
Our Tech Venture Program and NSF I-Corps participants are at the heart of this. These programs don't just push technology; they develop the person. We focus on helping you figure out if there is a validated commercial direction before you spend years and thousands of dollars chasing a path that doesn't exist.
A New Definition of Success
Innovation lives in the labs, yes. But it thrives in the hands of a founder.
By putting the founder, the human element, at the center of our ecosystem, we ensure that NYU research doesn’t just stay in a journal, but finds its way into the world where it can do the most good.
If you have a technology you believe in, don't just look for a licensee. Look in the mirror, or look to the brilliant postdoc at the bench next to you. You are the investment in our future.
