Ramot at Tel Aviv University
 | |
| Company type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1973 |
| Headquarters | , Israel |
Key people | Keren Primor Cohen, (CEO)[1] |
| Owner | Tel Aviv University |
| Website | ramot |
Ramot at Tel Aviv University LTD is Tel Aviv University's technology transfer company, owner of the intellectual property created by the university's researchers and responsible for the commercialization of such intellectual property. The company is considered a leader in its field.[2]
Ramot's mission is to facilitate the transfer of technology and knowledge from the university to the market, and to promote the commercialization of research and development (R&D) conducted at the university. To achieve this, Ramot works with researchers, entrepreneurs, and companies to identify and evaluate technologies and ideas with commercial potential, and to help protect and license these technologies through patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property (IP) rights. Ramot also provides support to startups and other companies that are based on Tel Aviv University technologies, including funding, business development, and access to university resources.
History and activity
[edit]Ramot was founded in 1973. It is a private company, fully owned by Tel Aviv University. Ramot manages all of the university's commercialization activities – filing patent applications and maintaining patents claiming intellectual property invented by researchers of Tel Aviv University and granting licenses to relevant industrial partners with respect to such intellectual property. The company creates new business opportunities at the university, through the founding of start-up companies, granting of licenses to existing companies – Israeli and multi-national – and creation of business collaborations and partnerships with such entities.[3]
Ramot identifies and engages with industrial partners to further develop discoveries and inventions created by Tel Aviv University’s researchers. It negotiates and executes license and research agreements with partners from a wide variety of industries to enable the development and commercialization of its technologies; raises research funding from industrial partners and from other sources, such as the Israel Innovation Authority and manages collaborations with industry and the transfer of materials and data from the university to industrial partners. Ramot is active mainly in the fields of engineering, computer science, medicine, biotechnology, food-tech, materials and medical devices.
Activity
[edit]Updated as of 2020, Ramot has filed more than 5,000 patent applications that claim more than 1,300 inventions. 600 patents have been granted, approximately 400 of which by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.[4]
The most notable transaction signed and managed by Ramot relates to one of the technologies on which the USB flash drive is based. This technology was patented by Ramot in 2004 and licensed to M-Systems around a year later.[5] Ramot has collaboration agreements with international companies such as Pfizer, Teva,[6] Bayer,[7] Samsung,[8] Google, Microsoft,[9] Merck,[10] Novartis,[11] GSK and more.
In 2013, Ramot established the Momentum Fund, an investment fund solely dedicated to funding research and development of the university's technologies. Momentum Fund investors include the Indian conglomerate, Tata Group, and Temasek Holdings. The Momentum Fund raised close to US 24 million dollars and invested in 28 technologies, of which 5 have led to the creation of the start-up companies QArt Medical, Unispectral, Trobix, Multivu and Silib, and 13 of which are in various stages of research and development.[12] The venture capital fund, TAU Ventures, is a subsidiary of Ramot and was created to invest in early-stage start-up companies founded by Tel Aviv University students and alumni in the hi-tech field. The fund provides mentoring, facilities and funding of between US 50 to 150 thousand dollars to its portfolio companies.[13]
References
[edit]- ^ Callum Cyrus, Cohen takes up Ramot leadership position, Global University Venturing, 14 May 2019
- ^ NoCamels Team, TAU, Technion Among Top 100 Universities With Most US Patents In 2018, NoCamels, 5 June 2019
- ^ Ramot At Tel Aviv University Ltd, Bloomberg Website
- ^ Lior Datal, The Global Patent Ranking: Tel Aviv University was ranked eight between the facilities outside the USA, The Marker 6 June 2017
- ^ SanDisk Ships World's First Flash Memory Cards with 64 Gigabit X4 (4-Bits-Per-Cell) NAND Flash Technology, Israel Tech Transfer Organization 22 November 2009
- ^ Teva and Tel Aviv University sign a collaboration agreement for innovative R&D in the fields of cancer and brain studies, Teva Website, 25 November 2019
- ^ Celia Jean, Bayer to test new drugs on 3D-printed heart tissue at Tel Aviv University, Jerusalem Post, 29 June 2020
- ^ Yasmin Yablonko, 3D imaging co MultiVu completes $7m financing round, Globes. 16 May 2019
- ^ Globes correspondent, Tel Aviv University and Pitango have teamed with General Electric, Microsoft, Qualcomm Ventures, Tata and Chinese company HNA EcoTech, Globes, 14 Nov 2016
- ^ Gali Weinreb, Ramot, Merck to collaborate on cancer treatment cancer, Globes, 1 Feb 2017
- ^ Novartis Makes $10M Investment in BioLineRx, GEN Magazine, 16 December 2014
- ^ Gali Weinreb, Tel Aviv University's Ramot raises $23.5 million, Globes 20 November 2014
- ^ Jonathan Shieber, Launched with $17 million by two former Norwest investors, Tau Ventures is ready for its closeupn, TechCrunch, 22 August 2020