The Hebrew University boasts some 100 laboratories and research centers where interdisciplinary research is carried out, enabling hands-on technology transfer to take place within their walls. With over one third of all research in Israel under its auspices, and sales to prominent companies such as Bayer, IBM, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Microsoft, Nestle and Novartis, Yissum finds itself at the nexus of faculty, students and researchers. Networking, with great minds meeting at the Hebrew University’s 4 campuses and 5 affiliated hospitals, makes it possible for hands-on technology transfer to be successfully accomplished.

 

With thousands of patents registered in the name of the Hebrew University, the formation of over sixty spin-off companies, several Nobel laureates among the University's professors and the contribution of its researchers to the University’s storehouse of intellectual property, the results of hands-on technology transfer speak for themselves, as reflected in millions of dollars in annual sales. The professionals managing the hands-on technology transfer are the same ones who shepherd the university’s intellectual property in the global marketplace, by protecting its patents and creating the financial and legal structure required for translating innovations into commercial, highly competitive products in international markets all over the world.

 

When students work together with professors and the staff of senior research institutes, great minds converge to produce scientific research studies which have practical applications and hands-on technology transfer takes place. Yissum, the name of the Hebrew University’s technology transfer company, means “application” in Hebrew. This company is the vehicle that enables successful pharmaceuticals such as EXELON, an Alzheimer’s medication sold by Novartis to penetrate the market, and cherry tomatoes with longer shelf-life to be sold by leading agricultural seed marketing companies. These are examples of practical hands-on technology transfers generated by the Hebrew University’s laboratories and research centers, and launched onto the marketplace thanks to the efforts of Yissum's professional team of economists, engineers, patent lawyers, marketers and sales promoters, and, of course, HU scientists.

 

Yissum is the technology transfer company that markets the innovations after it concludes market analysis to locate the best commercial applications. Inventors are included in this process and kept in the loop. The hands-on technology transfer process occurs when the innovation moves from the lab to the marketplace. Yissum works to protect the innovation through the proper legal channels. The most successful technology transfers are those that are hands-on technology transfers, supported by entrepreneurial capital throughout the process. In these transfers, Yissum experts deal with financing procedures and incorporate consultants' input, while marketing experts weigh in on the best way to develop the innovation considering whether it is preferable to market the product through a pure-play company, or as part of an existing company framework.