University of Utah Technology Licensing Office
resource active confidence: Medium status: Draft updated 2026-08-11
Summary
The University of Utah Technology Licensing Office (TLO) is the university's front door for invention disclosure, intellectual-property protection, licensing to industry, and faculty/researcher startup formation. The office publishes a faculty commercialization guide, an available-technologies portal for industry partners, and events (I-Corps cohorts, Tech Tuesdays).
Who It's For
- University of Utah faculty, staff researchers, postdocs, and students with a discovery, software, data asset, device, therapeutic, or other potentially protectable work
- External companies and investors seeking to license U of U technologies or partner on sponsored research that may generate IP
- Founders of U of U spinouts who need the licensing and startup-formation path clarified before fundraising
Not a fit for BYU, USU, or other-campus inventors (use that campus's tech-transfer office), or for Main Street businesses with no university IP.
What It Provides
From the official site, the office handles invention disclosure intake, intellectual-property protection and patent prosecution, market assessment, and license negotiation — either to an existing company or into a new spinout. It publishes a Faculty Commercialization Guide covering disclosure through startup formation, runs an available-technologies portal for industry partners looking to license U of U work, and hosts events including I-Corps cohorts and Tech Tuesdays.
The load-bearing item is the license itself. A U of U inventor cannot license university-owned IP around this office, so for that audience the TLO is not one option among several — it is the only route from a disclosure to a company that owns the right to practice the invention.
How To Use It
- Disclose early. Contact the TLO before public presentation, thesis deposit, preprint, or conference talk that could count as a public disclosure. Call 801.581.7792 or use the contact form on https://technologylicensing.utah.edu/
- Read the faculty guide. The office publishes a Faculty Commercialization Guide covering disclosure through licensing and startup formation.
- Work the licensing path. The office manages patent prosecution, market assessment, and license negotiation — either to an existing company or into a new spinout.
- Connect to the rest of the stack. After disclosure/licensing is underway, Utah deep-tech founders often next use Nucleus MarketEdge (market discovery), Altitude Labs (wet-lab residency), Nucleus Grow / UTIF (SBIR), and Nucleus Fund (equity). See Commercialize Research in Utah.
Best Fits
Best for U of U inventors who need the institutional IP door opened before talking to investors. The AUTM 2025 survey rankings the university publicizes (top-10 placements in disclosures, licenses executed, copyright licenses, new licensed technologies, and gross license income) are useful context for partners, but a founder should treat them as ecosystem signals — not as a substitute for contacting the office about their specific invention.
Open Questions
- What is the current median time from disclosure to first licensing conversation, and how does it vary by college?
- How should agents distinguish "PIVOT Center" references still scattered across wiki and press from the current TLO branding without confusing inventors?
- Which companion programs (U2TAH Therapeutic Accelerator Hub, Lassonde, Center for Medical Innovation) have a formal intake handoff from the TLO versus a parallel path?
Evidence
- Official Website: University of Utah Technology Licensing Office · https://technologylicensing.utah.edu/
- @theU announcement of the PIVOT → Technology Licensing Office rename · https://attheu.utah.edu/announcements/welcome-to-the-technology-licensing-office/
- Faculty Commercialization Guide · https://technologylicensing.utah.edu/inventors/faculty-commercialization-guide