Israeli universities, health organizations set up 74 companies in 2018 — report
Israel Technology Transfer Network’s annual report says 329 new licensing accords were entered into last year; most active fields for tech transfer were pharma and biotech
Shoshanna Solomon was The Times of Israel's Startups and Business reporter
Israeli universities, research institutions, hospitals, and HMOs set up 74 companies, filed 623 new patents and created 329 new licensing agreements last year, according to the Israel Technology Transfer Network 2018 annual report.
The most active sectors for Israeli technology transfer operations — when technologies and research developed in universities and other centers cross over to the industry in a bid to become commercially viable products — were in the fields of pharma and biotech, accounting for some 40 percent of activity, the report said.
Licensing of technologies to industrial players was the main way these Israeli scientific developments made their way to the market, the report said.
The data supports “Israel’s position as a global leader in academic-industrial collaboration, and demonstrates why we are one of the most sought after tech transfer hubs worldwide,” the report said.
The Israel Tech Transfer Organization is the umbrella organization for Israel’s technology transfer companies affiliated with the country’s universities and research institutions. In 2018, the network comprised 15 member organizations — six hospitals and HMOs and nine universities and research institutions.
ITTN was founded in 2004 to advance collaborative efforts between the technology transfer community in Israel and its counterparts around the world, to represent the interest of its member organizations before various government ministries and bodies and to improve the accessibility of the public to new and innovative research findings and inventions from Israel’s leading universities and research institutes.
Meanwhile, Yissum, the technology transfer company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has been selected to host the largest international conference for technology transfer experts and other professionals.
The AUTM ASIA 2019, conference, which will be co-hosted by ITTN, will take place in Jerusalem on November 4-7, and will bring together hundreds of academics, government and industry experts from across the world who will discuss the critical issues regarding technology transfer, Yissum said in a statement.
