Paris hospitals’ technology transfer arm generates €17m revenue

18 July 2011

Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris generated €17 million in revenues thanks to its technology transfer arm, OTTLIV, in 2010. OTTLIV (Office of Technology Transfer, Licensing and Industrial Ventures), which consists of a small team of professionals, raised income from license fees, royalties and collaborative research projects.

AP-HP brings together 37 Paris hospitals, including university and teaching establishments, and enjoys close associations with world-famous bodies such as Inserm, the CNRS, the Institut Curie, the Institut Gustav Roussy, the Institut Pasteur, and France’s nuclear energy agency (CEA).

OTTLIV’s mission is to generate the maximum return on AP-HP's intellectual property and is the single point of entry for industry to access AP-HP’s IP. It also helps would-be entrepreneurs from AP-HP create their own companies. Last year, it helped establish five new startups, adding to the 35 already in business, and bringing the number of jobs created to 250 in the Paris region.

The 2010 results were revealed last month at OTTLIV’s annual medical innovation conference, APinnov, where it welcomed a number of American senior healthcare representatives interested in OTTLIV’s unique approach. OTTLIV differs from most technology transfer units in focusing on innovations emanating directly from the hospital environment, as well as from universities, and on bringing to market products and services for the greater benefit of the patient, whether developed by researchers in the lab, by clinicians, by nursing staff at the bedside or by others involved in the wide-ranging activities conducted under the auspices of AP-HP.

The 201 requests for technology transfer assistance handled by OTTLIV in 2010 were a new record for the body, which was created in 1992. They included 42 patent applications, nine requests for software protection and 127 projects for partnerships with industry.

“It is really satisfying to see OTTLIV’s efforts to protect and leverage the innovations produced by AP-HP’s doctors and carers bringing results and generating revenues,” said Dr Florence Ghrenassia, OTTLIV director. “We are already intensifying our efforts in industry collaboration and hope to be able to at least maintain these results in 2011.”