The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has set up its Office for the Transfer of Knowledge (OTC), a step towards its commitment to knowledge transfer in which it combines its Office for Transfer and Institutional Actions (OTAI) and its Unit of Communication and Scientific Culture (UC3)
The creation of the OTC implies a recognition of the trajectory and the effort of the IAC in promoting the transfer of knowledge to its social and economic surroundings. The new OTC has been favourable evaluated, and inscribed in the Register of Offices of Knowledge Transfer (OTC for its initial in Spanish) of the Ministry of Science, Innovations and Universities. This recognition confirms the IAC as not only a centre of excellence in research, but also as a key player in the transfer of scientific and technological knowledge to the business sector and to society in general.
The functions of the OTC cover: the protection of the results of I+Dì with documents of industrial and intellectual property; the exploitaton of the results of research and inventions through contracts which allow the transfer of their use or ownership to third parties; the promotion of collaborative research between public and private entities; and the creation of entities based on knowledge, and the social diffusion of knowledge. This status does not imply any internal reorganisation, maintaining the same current organisational situation and separation of functions between OTAI and UC3.
This qualification offers the possibility for the IAC to apply for government and european resources devoted to innovation and technology transfer, helping tto fund projects of applied research, the development of new technologies, and the promotion of emerging companies base don research with the potential for commercialization. It will also contribute to facilitation the acquisition of resources for the communication and the outreach of the scientific and technological activity of the IAC with respect to society in general. With the recognition of the new OTC, the IAC acquires the commitment to keep up to date with information about its activities of knowledge transfer.
Anselmo Sosa, contact person for the IAC's OTC with the Ministry, explains: ”This designation as an OTC no only supports out work in technological research and development, but also gives us the incentive to keep working at the frontier of knowledge, making sure that our discoveries and technological developments are of benefit to society as a whole."
Contact at the IAC:
Anselmo Sosa Méndez, otai [at] iac.es (otai[at]iac[dot]es)