Software-based technologies present challenges to the most experienced university technology managers when it comes to licensing. These technologies are often not patentable, released under an open source license, or the software is frequently rewritten – making the original code less valuable. Therefore, faculty frequently don’t disclose software, and companies commonly avoid licensing software IP from the universities.
Over the past several years, there’s been a proliferation of universities launching internally-driven accelerator programs, with the goal of providing inventors of early stage technologies an opportunity to develop their startup idea within an academic setting. The core concept behind a university accelerator is to offer funding, mentorship, and other resources to startups sometimes too nascent to attract seasoned talent and institutional funding. But such accelerators require large amounts of capital and an experienced team to administer programming, evaluate startups ideas, allocate funding, and provide company-building services amongst other tasks.