About Yale OCR

The Yale University Office of Cooperative Research (OCR) was founded in 1982 and charged with extending and expanding Yale University's interaction with the private sector. The duties of the OCR include oversight for patenting and licensing activities, university inventions, and contractual relationships between faculty and industry. OCR staff work with Yale researchers to identify inventions that may ultimately become commercial products and services useful to the public. OCR staff also engage in industrial partnerships to license Yale inventions. An important goal for the Yale OCR is to identify new ideas, cultivate venture funding for them, and facilitate their development into companies that become part of the New Haven economy.

Yale OCR's Vision

Our vision is to be the recognized leader in translating academic research into products that improve the health and prosperity of the global community.

Yale OCR's Mission

Foster cooperative efforts to translate academic research into products and services for the benefit of society, support of the broader research and education missions of Yale, and where possible -

• Catalyze local economic development.
• Enhance the reputation of the university.
• Generate revenue for reinvestment in those missions.

Yale OCR's Guiding Principles

What We Do:

• Leverage Intellectual Property Assets
  We patent when the value of an invention to Yale or to society cannot be realized without strong patent protection, providing incentives for commercial investment without hindering broad access to research tools and other technologies that advance basic research.
  
• Focus on Highest Potential Impact
  We rigorously manage our portfolio of efforts to remain highly focused on those opportunities with the highest probable benefit to both Yale and society.
  
• Assess Potential Benefits from a Global Perspective
  We use both financial and non-financial metrics to assess the value of an opportunity to society. Discoveries with high potential to improve the health or prosperity of the global community will be vigorously pursued irrespective of monetary gain to Yale.
  
• Build Value Discovery-to-Market
  We strive to make significant contributions to the value of Yale’s research at every stage of the development process from discovery to market.

Who We Are:

• Knowledgeable
  We strive to be trusted experts in our professional disciplines, increasing private sector awareness within the university and identifying opportunities for collaborations with companies, investors, and other academic institutions.
• Performance-oriented
  We strive to be a high-performing, entrepreneurial team that attracts the highest caliber professionals and rewards them for both individual and group initiative and accomplishment. We strive to be practical, market-savvy, and highly capable leaders across the full range of commercialization and development opportunities, including licensing to established companies, creating new ventures, and working with non-profit organizations.
• Ethical
  We adhere to the highest ethical standards. We strive to maintain the highest standards in our attention to conflicts of interest and in exercising our stewardship of the university’s assets.