Stephen Kinsey wanted to find a more personal way to connect inventors at his university to businesses that might be interested in their creations.
So he let researchers do the talking, explaining their work in videos on a YouTube channel created at the University of Maryland at Baltimore last month.
Mr. Kinsey, technology-licensing officer for the university’s department of commercial ventures and intellectual property, said the short videos aren’t intended as a hard sell. Rather, they’re an opportunity to let researchers shine in a way they might not in written descriptions of their work.
“Their passion for the technology comes through,” he said. “A lot of times they’re giving you a little more than you’re going to get in a very specific technical description.”
Mr. Kinsey said several universities have contacted him because they are interested in developing similar YouTube channels. The Baltimore project is just one of the technological ideas that universities are using to stir commercial interest.
3 Responses to University Puts Researchers on YouTube to Stir Commercial Interest
22072358 - February 5, 2010 at 4:02 pm
This is a real downer. They can do if free on You Tube, why pay someone to advertise??
davidvictor - February 5, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Just another example of how technology and the internet are changing everything.
11272784 - February 9, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Not a downer – an opportunity. Advertising still has its place.