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After Harvard graduate students Benjamin C. Schaefer and Angela Feldhaus spent six years studying the physical mechanisms behind lightweight flight devices, they decided to translate their findings into a new invention.

With their research in hand, they approached Harvard’s Office of Technology Development to license their invention for commercial use. Four years later, Schaefer and Feldhaus not only secured a patent, but also launched start-up company Rarefied Technologies to commercialize their invention.

Schaefer credits the OTD — which helps researchers coordinate corporate partnerships, intellectual property management, technology commercialization, and startup formation — with Rarefied Technologies’ launch.

“It was really helpful in bridging the gap between lab and launch,” Schaefer said.

Rarefied Technologies is one of the 96 startups that OTD helped to develop over the last five years. The office works to commercialize a range of Harvard-based research — from plant-based meat substitutes to energy efficient air conditioning.

Created in 2005, the OTD supports Harvard employees who want to bring their research to the market. Over the last five years, they have helped secure 897 U.S. patents and generated more than $100 million in commercialization revenue.

Christopher J. Petty, director of Business Development at the OTD, said the office acts in a “consulting role” to provide researchers with resources to create businesses around their research and inventions.

“It’s a one-stop shop for the labs,” he said. “Harvard and OTD’s mission is to support Harvard’s researchers to get all these innovations out of the lab and into the real world.”

The office gives researchers access to business services, including drafting pitch decks, recruiting talent, and fundraising. The OTD established partnerships with companies like Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, and Amazon — securing nearly $300 million in research funding since 2020.

But more importantly, the OTD licenses the intellectual property rights of all inventions out of the University — meaning Harvard gets a cut of the product’s revenue.

All Harvard employees — including Harvard researchers and professors — who create commercially viable research are required to file patents through the OTD and under the University. The licensing of IP rights grants Harvard royalties and a percentage of revenue from the sales. In certain cases, Harvard may receive a small percentage of equity and stake in the startup.

In the last five years, OTD has generated nearly $500 million in revenue from royalties, one-time licensing fees, and the liquidation of equity. In 2024 alone, the office collected more than $100 million in revenue.

“It’s a nice setup compared to a lot of universities, in that we handle really anything that’s commercially oriented that touches the labs,” Petty said.

Schaefer said the office has supported Rarefied Technologies’ launch, proactively helping them contact investors like the Department of Energy and Air Force Research Lab to raise $1.6 million.

“OTD has been very good about putting us in touch with potential investors that, so far, have felt like really good matches for us,” Schaefer said. “They’ve certainly given us a good selection of people to work with.”

David T. Scadden, professor of Human Regenerative and Developmental Biology and co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, also worked with the OTD to advance his research on creating stem cell therapies.

Scadden said his work with the OTD opened doors to direct collaboration with stakeholders who have business experience — a rare occurrence in a laboratory setting.

“You don’t really encounter that in the course of developing your skills as a scientist,” he said.

“As strong as this community is, you really have to go to the next step of having people who are willing to commercialize it,” he added.

The office also offers three accelerators — cohort mentorship programs for early-stage start-ups — in the biomedical, physical science, and climate and sustainability realms. Scadden said working with OTD’s Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator “created a bridge” to connect researchers directly to venture capital funding.

“My greatest dream would be that we would ultimately have something come out of the lab that could meaningfully change people’s lives for the better,” Scadden said. “I’m delighted that OTD is a part of this ecosystem, because they give me hope that it’s actually at least possible.”

As OTD celebrates its 20th anniversary, Petty said the office has played a crucial role in propagating Harvard’s cutting-edge research.

“If you go back and you look at Harvard’s mission, it is about increasing the knowledge of humanity, but it’s also about using that knowledge to make a difference,” he said.

—Staff writer Xinni (Sunshine) Chen can be reached at sunshine.chen@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @sunshine_cxn.

—Staff writer Danielle J. Im can be reached at danielle.im@thecrimson.com.