Since 1989 -- more than a decade before NDSU broke ground for the Research and Technology Park -- the NDSU Research Foundation along with NDSU's Office of Technology Transfer has helped NDSU scientists protect intellectual property and shepherd it toward commercial development.

Like many of NDSU's research assets, the birth of the tech park has brought these offices into the limelight and made them much busier. With research expenditures steadily trending upward -- now at more than $100 million -- "activity in our office has definitely increased," said Dale Zetocha.

Zetocha is both executive director of the research foundation and director of the office of technology transfer. Since putting on those two hats in 1995, he's seen collaboration between government, NDSU and high-tech companies -- like Alien Technology, Tessera Technologies, Symyx Corp., and Crane Aerospace and Electronics. The NDSU Research Foundation now has 41 issued patents - with 40 more patents pending -- and manages other intellectual property as well.

Zetocha and his team are the brokers of technology transfer at NDSU. They know the ins and outs of protecting intellectual property. They search for markets for good ideas. They help link NDSU scientists with industry to benefit both.

As the research foundation's newest addition, Joyce Eisenbraun claimed the right to brag about her colleagues in a recent group interview: "One of the things that makes this office unique are the three guys sitting around the table. They have such different and extensive experiences and can provide such valuable insights to NDSU faculty."

Zetocha, with his dual titles, is ultimately responsible for all research-based intellectual property developed at NDSU. His previous work experience was as a specialist in small business management, including feasibility analysis and market research. He earned both his bachelor's in business economics and his master's in agricultural economics at NDSU.

Kevin Crawford's focus is developing NDSU's engineering and physical science intellectual property. He worked in a similar capacity at the University of California, Davis, and prior to that spent 22 years in the military, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.

NDSU alum Dennis K. Anderson is an expert in biotechnology, bio-pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and agricultural and veterinary products. Before joining NDSU, he served as an officer of several biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Eisenbraun, a marketing specialist, ran her own consulting business for 14 years before joining NDSU in November. "I'll be helping with research and licensing activities, market research and finding some of those commercial entities for inventions," she said.

The individual talents of the foursome are magnified when they join forces. "It's not uncommon for us to put our heads together to problem solve or hammer out the best strategy to handle things," Zetocha said. "We operate as a team."

Like Zetocha, NDSU's licensing associates work for both the office of technology transfer and the research foundation. The tech transfer office handles university intellectual property matters with a focus on academic activities, supporting pre-research and research activities. The foundation -- a non-profit organization -- takes care of intellectual property protection, licensing and commercialization once a discovery is made and reported to and handled by technology transfer.

Synergy between NDSU and business is what transforms intellectual property into a commercial product. Zetocha and company determine when it's best to grant exclusive rights to a private company and when it's wise to license intellectual property non-exclusively. "The ultimate goal of licensing is to get revenue back into the university," Crawford said, "especially to those departments that contributed to the development of those inventions, with a portion of it as a reward to the inventors for their intellect, creativity and diligence."

Before 1980, any inventions that came out of federally funded research on a university campus belonged to the government. This gave the government thousands of inventions for products and processes, but only a small portion ever found their way as issued patents let alone into commercial use. That all changed when Congress passed the Bayh-Dole Act, which recognized it was in the public's best interest to allow universities to elect ownership of the intellectual property resulting from federally funded research and work with business to expand ideas beyond basic research.

"Today the university plays a crucial role in development of intellectual property and bringing it to a commercial state," Anderson said.

The licensing associates help scientists discern when they are on the way to developing something that may become a viable product and when inventions aren't right or ready for the commercial world. "You may have something in a lab that's just great, but for a variety of reasons it can never be brought to the commercial marketplace. So we often must make difficult decisions as to what technologies are patented and commercially marketed," Crawford said.

The magic happens when technology successfully transfers from university to industry by way of license or from industry to university through research that may lead to commercialization.

NDSU is the only university in the nation licensed to practice Alien Technology's NanoBlockTM IC and Fluidic Self Assembly technology. Tessera Technologies, a leading company in miniaturized, chip-scale packing technology, also is sharing intellectual property with NDSU's Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering. "That active exchange of work," Crawford said, "is increasing NDSU's research capabilities."

For more information on NDSU technology transfer, visit the Web site at www.ndsu.edu/techtransfer/ or the NDSU Research Foundation at www.ndsu.edu/ndsu/research_foundation/.