This column, “Focus on Technology Transfer,” began in the January 2001 issue of Cosmetics & Toiletries magazine. I have had the privilege of writing this quarterly column for five years. In that fi rst issue, I said that the purpose of the column “is to keep the readers of C&T magazine aware of some new and interesting developments that are taking place at research centers around the world.” I hope that you found some leads and were able to develop innovative and interesting products and relationships from the technologies presented in the articles.
In the beginning the column highlighted available technologies and explained how and why to search independently. The column evolved to include an explanation of the various aspects of technology transfer, but a presentation of available technologies was always a part of the column.
I believe that technology transfer involves more than transferring a technology from one entity to another. Technology transfer encompasses the range of idea generation through the licensing and commercialization of technology and everything else that impacts this process. The subjects covered included overviews of most common intellectual property matters. My articles were not meant to make you an expert, but rather to give a general understanding of what is involved in that particular aspect of intellectual property. Table 1 shows a list of all the articles and the issues in which they appeared.
As a change of pace, I sometimes covered chemical areas that could impact the personal care industry. These included nanotechnology, chirality and dendrimers. I hope that these areas generated some interest in learning more about these areas and how they could impact your product areas.
