Technology Opportunities & Ventures
Technology Opportunities & Ventures (TOV) is the technology commercialization unit of NYU, serving all of the University’s campuses, colleges, and schools. TOV’s mission is to translate the outputs of the University’s $1.5 billion research base into commercial solutions and technologies to maximize their social and economic impact.
Our guiding vision is to be one of the top-performing academic commercialization organizations as measured by societal benefit and economic return. NYU has a strong track record of cultivating an innovative environment that successfully moves research discoveries from the laboratory to the market, and it has consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in the US for generating license income and startup formation.
Led by a team of expert licensing and business development professionals, TOV evaluates, protects, and manages the University’s intellectual property and works to commercialize NYU innovations by facilitating corporate-sponsored research collaborations, external licensing partnerships, and supporting the formation of spinout ventures. At NYU Abu Dhabi, technology transfer and commercialization activities are coordinated locally through the Director of Technology Transfer, who serves as the primary point of contact and portfolio manager for the Abu Dhabi campus, allowing the campus to leverage, when needed, the expertise and operational capacity of the office in NY.
Ahmed Ellaithy is the Director of Technology Transfer at NYU Abu Dhabi, where he manages the commercialization of research across all disciplines on campus. He serves as the primary interface between the Abu Dhabi and New York campuses to ensure technology transfer activities align with national and university goals. In this capacity, he oversees the business development lifecycle, from initial innovation disclosure to the negotiation of licensing deals and partnerships. Through global outreach, he ensures that the university’s research outputs are effectively translated into market-ready solutions.
Ahmed has over 15 years of experience in university technology transfer and intellectual property management within the SWANA region. He played a significant role in a national program that supported the establishment and operations of over fifty Technology Innovation and Commercialization Offices (TICOs) throughout Egypt. Working closely with Egypt’s Ministry, he helped shape the program’s growth through monitoring and training efforts.
Ahmed has also been active in several efforts to develop the technology transfer ecosystem regionally, engaging with organizations such as the UN-ESCWA, AUTM, WIPO, and the European Investment Bank (EIB). He was part of the national effort to update Egypt’s Vision 2030 strategies regarding university research translation. Prior to his current role at NYU, he was the founding director of the Technology Transfer Office at the American University in Cairo (AUC), where he focused on establishing the university's translational infrastructure and fostering a campus culture for research commercialization.
Beyond his experience in academic institutions, Ahmed’s experience includes five years in the private sector working in design and product development across several industries out of the UK and the UAE. He has also navigated the startup landscape as a founder. He is also a co-founder of a New Media Arts Biennale, an international festival dedicated to electronic and digital arts.