TLO stands for Technology Licensing Organization. The TLO handles the patents of universities that resulted from their research and transfers those patents to companies. In this way, the TLO connects researchers with companies.

In Japan, cooperation between industry and universities often takes the form of joint research to solve technical problems and develop new products. However, the contribution of universities could rarely be found in commercialized products. In other cases, although university researchers hoped that their research results would be utilized by private companies, the existing intermediate organization did not have the capacity to handle the role. University researchers are requested not only to take grants to do research but also to contribute to society.

In the United States, the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 changed U.S. patent law. The title to inventions made by universities using government funding belongs to those entities and not to the government. After the act was enacted, many universities had an office of technology licensing to promote?@the licensing of their patents to industries.

Following the success in the United States, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) ( former Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI)) in Japan forwarded to pass the Technology Transfer Promotion Law. After it passed in August 1998, it started to organize TLOs in many regions in Japan. At present, there are 39 Technology Licensing Organizations throughout the country.

Tohoku Techno Arch Co., Ltd., was established in November 1998 with the object of transferring the technical seeds of universities and technical colleges in the Tohoku region to industries. Before April 2004, more than 80% of inventions carried out by national universities were granted to individual researchers. In those days, the TLO played an important role in the cooperation between industry and university researchers through their activities to promote the licensing of patents developed by universities and transferring them to companies.

Few inventions created in universities are directly commercialized or used on the production lines of private companies, but it needs more research and development for most of them to release the technology as a product to the world.

Since national universities in Japan became independent corporations in April 2004, many universities started to manage the inventions their researchers have made themselves. They hold the inventions as intellectual property and promote the licensing of them, making use of experienced TLOs. The most important task of the TLO is to establish dependable relationships between companies and universities. Therefore, it does not matter whether the patent holder for a license is an individual or a university. Because private companies use university technology in their products or manufacturing process, universities can return their research results to society.

As shown above, the role of the TLO is to promote cooperation between companies and university researchers. The methods of licensing differ with each TLO. They perform a variety of tasks, including licensing, coordinating fundraising for research, and establishing venture businesses.

Tohoku Techno Arch was established to search for companies that will accept technology transfers, i.e., its prime task is licensing. According to data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on technology transfers, Tohoku Techno Arch has been one of the top TLOs in terms of the number of patent licenses issued since its establishment. In particular, about 80% of the total number of applications submitted is issued a patent license, which is much higher than for any other TLO. Because multiple contracts are made for one patent, it cannot be concluded that the percentage of technology transfers is as high as this. However, the high percentage does show its capability as a good judge of technologies, a skill that is indispensable in a TLO. Tohoku Techno Arch was awarded the Intellectual Property Service Prize(note1) in recognition of its excellent technical transfer methods.