Among the forty invention disclosures filed for patenting by the NCCR members, eighteen patents were granted, between 2001 and 2011. Various types of cooperation occurring between the NCCR’s platforms, namely the genomics and bioimaging facilities, provided good examples of consolidation of academic-private networks, including companies based in Europe and the US.
An important outlet for biological research is the medical area, which often bypasses the private sector. In that respect, work performed at EPFL has been instrumental in establishing an approach used today with success for the gene-based treatment of a variety of diseases (gene therapy with lentivector-mediated modification of hematopoietic stem cells). The NCCR, together with the children helped by this therapy and their families, considered this landmark achievement as a major contribution to technology transfer. Other forms of technology transfer, in particular start-up companies, are listed in the table below.
Knowledge and technology transfer
| Type | Number |
|---|
| Filed patents | 40 |
| Licences | 10 |
| Start-up companies | 5 |
| Prototypes, demonstrators | 0 |
| Processes, products | 0 |
| CTI projects | 1 |
One of the main sources of direct knowledge transfer into the economy and society were the young researchers trained in the NCCR. Fourteen percent of the doctoral and postdoctoral students found a job in the private or public sector after leaving academia.