Dr Sze Tiam Lin, Senior Director, IPI was invited to speak at an international workshop on technology transfer held on 9 and 10 May 2019 at Sabanci University, in Istanbul, Turkey. The workshop was part of the Innovative Interface Structures Platform, a project to enhance capacity building and skills development within interface organisations supported by the Istanbul Regional Development Agency.

Interface organisations refer to innovation-centric institutions that support technology commercialisation such as technology transfer offices and R&D centres within the universities and technology parks.

During his presentation, Dr Sze offered insights into the various metrics, capacity building and assessment methods of interface organisations adopted by Singapore technology transfer offices, centres of innovation, incubators, science and technology intermediaries. He elaborated how IPI focuses on market-led innovation and works closely with innovation and enterprise (I&E) interfaces to facilitate global technology collaborations through its open innovation services and platforms like the online marketplace, TechInnovation and TechExpert.

The line-up of international speakers included Dr Michel Morant, CEO of University-Industry Liaison Office of University of Liege and Managing Director of Gesval, Belgium; and Mr Cengiz Tarhan, Director of Tarhan Associates and former Managing Director of University College London Business.

Following the workshop, Dr Sze took the opportunity to visit IPI’s partners and technology transfer offices at Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Sabanci University and Sistem Global Consulting.