How to Disclose Research with Commercial Potential

One way faculty research can benefit society is through commercialization. If your research could potentially form the basis for a start-up company, or if it’s something an existing company could bring to market, USU’s Technology Transfer Office would like to help.

Technology Transfer Services (TTS) has commercialized a wide range of faculty-developed inventions, from wireless power transfer to language skills instruction. TTS analyzes the innovation to determine whether it’s patentable and whether there’s a market for it, patents or copyrights it, and licenses it to an existing company or creates a start-up company around it.

Critically, however, TTS is powerless to leverage your invention if it doesn't know about it, so the first and most important step in the entire process is DISCLOSING your invention.

Disclosure is straightforward: just go to the TTS disclosure page (button below), which will guide you through the process and provide a link to USU's inventor portal where you will answer some questions and describe your invention. Once you click "submit," the commercialization effort for your invention is officially up and running.

It's better to disclose your invention sooner rather than later — certain rights can be lost by waiting too long. And if you’re not sure whether or not your invention can be commercialized, go ahead and disclose it and TTS can make that determination. The TTS team is always happy to answer questions and provide guidance.