What Technology Transfer Center does

Technology Transfer Center is the technology transfer office within the National Cancer Institute, operating under the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Established in its current form in October 2015 when NIH decentralized patenting and licensing from a central office to institute-level units, TTC manages the patenting, licensing, and commercialization of biomedical inventions developed by intramural NCI researchers and by nine additional NIH Institutes and Centers (CIT, Clinical Center, NICHD, NCCIH, NEI, NIA, NIDA, NIMHD, NLM). It is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland (NCI Shady Grove) with a secondary office in Frederick at the National Cancer Institute at Frederick facility.

TTC's core services include evaluation of Employee Invention Reports (EIRs), Technology Review Group-mediated patenting decisions, patent prosecution oversight through external law firms, invention marketing and analysis, and the negotiation and administration of multiple agreement types: Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), licensing agreements (exclusive, non-exclusive, co-exclusive, Start-Up 3.0), Material and Data Transfer Agreements, Confidential Disclosure Agreements, and the SBIR Tech Transfer program. Internal funding mechanisms — the Invention Development Program (IDP) with Stage I (up to $50K) and Stage II (up to $30K) awards — bridge early-stage technologies toward commercialization. A fellowship suite (Innovation, Negotiator, Business Development & Marketing, Transition to Industry) plus the Technology Training University, Technology Transfer Ambassadors Program (TTAP), and AIM mentorship build the internal talent pipeline.

TTC does not sell to commercial customers in a conventional revenue model; it functions as a federal intermediary that transfers federally funded research into the private sector under statutorily defined terms (overhead capped at 15%, licensing governed by 37 CFR §404.7). Royalty income from licensed inventions flows to NIH under a formula with a $150,000 annual cap per inventor. Its primary customers are pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies (Bristol-Myers Squibb for Taxol, Merck and GlaxoSmithKline for HPV VLP vaccines, Eisai for Halaven, Millennium for Velcade, United Therapeutics for Unituxin, EMD Serono for Avelumab, Kite Pharma for Yescarta), alongside startups (Micatu, ProScript), academic and non-profit institutions, NIH intramural investigators, and government agencies.

Name

Technology Transfer Center

Legal name

National Cancer Institute's Technology Transfer Center

Website

https://techtransfer.cancer.gov

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

NCI's Technology Transfer Center is a federal technology transfer office within NIH that manages patenting, licensing, and commercialization of NCI and nine other NIH Institutes' biomedical inventions for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, startup, and academic partners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Bethesda

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Licensing Royalties: NIH inventions are available for licensing to commercial entities. Inventors receive royalties on patented inventions or patent applications when licensed to outside organizations. Royalty distribution follows a standard NIH formula with a $150,000 annual cap per inventor.
2. Licensing Fees: Companies pay licensing fees for exclusive and non-exclusive licenses including Internal Commercial Use Licenses, Commercial Evaluation Licenses, Non-Exclusive Patent Licenses, Biological Materials Licenses, and Software Internal Use Licenses.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

NCI Technology Transfer Center (TTC) is a government technology transfer office that facilitates partnerships between NIH/NCI intramural research laboratories and external commercial, academic, and non-profit partners. It manages the patenting, licensing, and commercialization of federally-funded biomedical discoveries (therapeutics, vaccines, diagnostics, medical devices, research tools, software) through licensing agreements, CRADAs, MTAs, CDAs, and the SBIR Tech Transfer Program. It also runs the Invention Development Program to fund pre-clinical proof-of-concept studies and provides TTC Fellowships for training next-generation technology transfer professionals.

Product overview

The NCI Technology Transfer Center (TTC) is a government technology transfer office that facilitates partnerships between NIH/NCI research laboratories and external commercial partners. It is not a traditional software product but rather a service organization offering technology transfer mechanisms including licensing agreements (exclusive, non-exclusive, startup), cooperative research agreements (CRADAs), transactional agreements (CDAs, MTAs), and various training/fellowship programs. TTC guides partners through the technology transfer process providing expertise on patenting, invention development, licensing, and technology marketing. The organization manages patent prosecution for NCI inventions, operates the Invention Development Program for early-stage funding, and provides multiple fellowship and training programs including Innovation Fellowship, Negotiator Fellowship, Business Development & Marketing Fellowship, and Technology Transfer Ambassadors Program (TTAP).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Licensing Agreements Licensing agreements (exclusive, non-exclusive, co-exclusive, and startup) granting rights to NCI technologies across therapeutics, diagnostics, vaccines, devices, research tools, and software. Available to commercial partners worldwide under negotiated terms subject to Federal Register public comment requirements for exclusive licenses.
• Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) Co-development agreements enabling collaboration between NIH intramural researchers and external partners for further development and commercialization of NIH inventions. CRADA collaborators may exclusively license any co-owned IP.
• Transactional Agreements (CDAs and MTAs) Confidential Disclosure Agreements (CDAs) and Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs) used to evaluate and transfer NIH technologies, biological materials, and confidential information to external partners.
• Non-Exclusive License Agreements Non-exclusive licenses including Internal Commercial Use Licenses, Commercial Evaluation Licenses, Non-Exclusive Patent Licenses, Biological Materials Licenses, and Software Internal Use Licenses for commercial partners.
• Exclusive Patent License Agreements Exclusive patent license agreements to promote successful commercial development of NIH inventions when appropriate, granted subject to a 15-day Federal Register public comment period and review against criteria defined in 37 CFR §404.7.
• Start-Up 3.0 License Exclusive license option for early and R&D stage companies developing early-stage therapeutic, vaccine, device, and certain diagnostic technologies, designed to facilitate startup commercialization of NCI inventions.
• Invention Development Program (IDP) Internal funding program to de-risk early-stage NCI technologies through pre-clinical proof-of-concept studies, with Stage I funding up to $50K and Stage II follow-on funding up to $30K, advancing them toward commercial readiness.
• SBIR Tech Transfer Program Small Business Innovation Research Technology Transfer mechanism providing Phase I and Phase II grants that enable close collaboration between awarded small companies and NCI intramural scientists for technology commercialization.
• TTC Fellowship Program Full-time, fully paid fellowship opportunities for post-graduate trainees including Innovation Fellowship, Negotiator Fellowship, Business Development & Marketing Fellowship, and Transition to Industry (T2I) Fellowship, providing hands-on technology transfer training at NCI TTC.
• Patent Prosecution Services Patent prosecution services managing patent applications for NCI inventions, including provisional filings, PCT applications, and international patent prosecution executed through contract law firms.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1 million patients treated with Taxol since FDA approval
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Bristol-Myers SquibbcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCRADA partner for Taxol (paclitaxel) development. Conducted preclinical testing, Phase 1/2 clinical trials (1984-1985), and was responsible for production starting 1988. Received FDA approval for ovarian cancer (1992) and advanced breast cancer (1994).
• Merck & Co. Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLicensed HPV virus-like particle technology from NCI. Conducted clinical trials on 20,541 women ages 16-26. Gardasil received FDA approval June 2006; 100% effective against HPV16/18 cervical cancers.
• GlaxoSmithKlinecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLicensed HPV VLP technology from NCI for Cervarix vaccine. FDA approved 2009 for cervical cancer prevention.
• Eisai Co.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCRADA partner for Halaven (eribulin). Provided eribulin for NCI preclinical development and Phase I clinical trials. Conducted medicinal chemistry optimization and large-scale synthesis. FDA approved 2010 for metastatic breast cancer.
• Millennium PharmaceuticalscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerConducted clinical trials resulting in FDA approval of Velcade for multiple myeloma (2006), mantle-cell lymphoma (2007), and initial MM treatment (2008).
• United Therapeutics CorporationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCRADA partner for dinutuximab (Unituxin). Assumed manufacturing responsibility and moved through regulatory approval steps. FDA approved March 2015 for high-risk neuroblastoma. Collaborated with Children's Oncology Group and NCI BDP.
• EMD Serono Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership through CRADAs and Material Transfer Agreements to evaluate proprietary agents like Avelumab. Amended existing CRADA for additional clinical trials. FDA approved 2017 for metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma.
• Kite Pharma Inc. (Gilead Company)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLicensed CAR T-cell technology (axicabtagene ciloleucel) from NCI for further development and commercialization. FDA approved October 2017 for large-B-cell lymphomas. Distributed as Yescarta.
• Micatu Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSBIR-TT partner for Micatu Tissue Arrayer commercialization. Phase I award September 2012, Phase II grant June 2014. Commercialized MicaArray Gen 3.0 tissue microarray instrument using 3D printing technology.
• ProScript Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSmall company (formerly Myogenetics) that synthesized active ingredient for Velcade. Conducted preclinical oncology studies in collaboration with NCI scientists.
• Children's Oncology GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of NCI's National Clinical Trials Network. Collaborated with Dr. Alice Yu to test ch14.18 monoclonal antibody on 226 neuroblastoma patients in 2001. Provided clinical trial data supporting FDA approval.
• NCI Biopharmaceutical Development ProgramcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProduced ch14.18 antibody for NCI-sponsored clinical trials at Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research. Increased production to ensure availability for all eligible children when no pharmaceutical company was willing to manufacture.
• LunitcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAI partnership to blend artificial intelligence tools with clinical data and research practices. Collaboration aims to develop AI-powered solutions for cancer diagnostics and therapeutics for personalized treatment.
• Harvard University (Prof. Yoshito Kishi)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCompleted first total synthesis of halichondrin B. Collaborative studies with Eisai revealed anticancer activity resides in the 'right half' macrocyclic lactone moiety. Synthesized halichondrin B right half analogs.
• New Zealand ScientistsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNCI signed Letter of Collection agreement with New Zealand to collect sponges from which halichondrin B was extracted and purified.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (Office of Technology Transfer): Independent biomedical research institution with a dedicated technology transfer office performing licensing, patenting, and commercialization of cancer-relevant and neuroscience inventions; smaller-scale but functionally parallel to NCI TTC.
• MIT Technology Licensing Office: MIT's TTO handles protection and licensing of biomedical and other inventions from MIT researchers; comparable operating model (invention disclosure review, exclusive/non-exclusive licensing, startup formation support).
• Max Planck Innovation: Tech transfer arm of the Max Planck Society that evaluates, protects, and commercializes life sciences inventions from Max Planck Institutes—directly mirrors NCI TTC's research-to-license operating model in a publicly funded research system.
• LifeArc (formerly MRC Technology): UK self-funding medical research charity that translates early-stage science into new diagnostics, treatments, and medical devices—operates a closely analogous biomedical tech transfer and commercialization model from publicly funded research.
• Stanford Office of Technology Licensing (OTL): Premier academic biomedical TTO responsible for evaluating, patenting, and licensing life sciences inventions from Stanford research faculty—directly analogous function (research-to-license commercialization) for cutting-edge biomedical IP.
• NIAID Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Office (TTIPO): Sister NIH institute-level TTO that manages patenting and licensing for NIAID intramural discoveries under the same federal technology transfer framework, serving nearly identical licensing and CRADA counterparties as NCI TTC.

Broad incumbents

• Battelle Memorial Institute: Operates multiple DOE national labs and runs the federally funded tech transfer intermediary BBCetc; broader scope than NCI TTC but uses the same licensing, CRADA-equivalent, and commercialization mechanisms across life sciences and physical sciences.

Others

• Foresight Science & Technology: Private tech transfer service provider assisting federal labs (DoD, DOE, USDA) with IP protection, patent prosecution, and licensing—adjacent service rather than direct competitor but works the same federal tech transfer ecosystem as NCI TTC.
• TechLink (Montana State University): DoD-affiliated tech transfer intermediary that facilitates licensing of inventions from Air Force, Army, and Navy labs—parallel federal tech transfer function but focused on defense and dual-use technologies rather than biomedical.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/NCITechTransfer
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nationalcancerinstitute

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Technology Transfer Center