The word "nontraditional" is used to describe almost any career in which scientific knowledge is applied outside the laboratory setting. But one cutting-edge and still hot career market is truly outside the traditionally exclusive confines of academia, industry, and the government: technology transfer.

At universities, technology transfer offices are actively hiring applicants with dual qualifications in science and business. These offices are the gateway through which the products of university research are licensed for development by industry, new companies are encouraged and started, and cooperative research projects channel funds back into university research departments. One measure of the explosive growth of employment in this area in the past 2 decades can be found in the membership numbers of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). In 1979, the year before the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act, the group had 113 members; it counts more than 3,200 members. Every member has a technical background, most in some area of science.

Technology transfer offices are also a part of industry, and employment is booming in these offices, too. At the Center for Collaborative Research at DuPont (Wilmington, DE), chemists, lawyers, and business experts serve as liaisons between the company and scientists in academia and government. Federal research institutions also maintain technology transfer offices. At the National Institutes of Health and the Public Health Service, the joint Office of Technology Transfer oversees patents, negotiates and monitors licensing agreements, provides oversight and central policy review of cooperative research and development agreements, and manages the patent and licensing activities of the Food and Drug Administration.

If you have both a science background and additional training in business or law, you have your choice among technology transfer offices in industry, universities, and government. With the right combinations of flexibility and training, "jobseekers can pretty much right their own ticket," Todd Sherer, director of the Office of Technology Management at the Oregon Health Sciences University (Portland), told The Scientist.

Scherer and others recommend the following strategies for those interested in pursuing careers in technology transfer:

Basic training: complement your science degree with additional training in business or law. Consider a dual major if you are an undergraduate, or enroll in an MBA program if you already have a science degree.

Experience: Undergraduates can get a foot in the door and valuable on-the-job experience by volunteering or interning at their campus technology transfer offices. These offices will also have information about externships and other collaborative programs in technology transfer offices in private industry and the government. Those wishing to switch careers can locate additional training resources through groups like the AUTM or the National Technology Transfer Center.

Positive attitude: Technology transfer experts represent the interest of their employing institutions, but they also must "sell" new ideas to participants on both sides of the licensing and development agreement. Diplomacy and an understanding of the many variables at stake for the interested parties are vital elements in managing successful transfers.

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