Anna Kuuttila

Anna Kuuttila is a Technology Transfer Manager at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), where she has led the organization’s first technology transfer office since September 2025. With over a decade of experience in the technology transfer field, she has worked across multiple institutions, building expertise at the intersection of research innovation and industry collaboration.

Technology transfer operates at the nexus of scientific and engineering discovery and commercial application. In her role at UCAR, Anna serves as a liaison between researchers developing innovative ideas and industry partners seeking to bring those technologies to market. She is responsible for protecting scientific and engineering innovations through intellectual property mechanisms—including patents, copyrights, and trademarks—and for negotiating licensing agreements with companies interested in commercializing these technologies. Her work supports the advancement of research-driven technologies to achieve broader market and societal impact.

Anna is a Registered Patent Agent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), credentialed since March 2017. Although she is not an attorney, her technical background enables her to prosecute patent and trademark applications on behalf of companies and individuals.

At UCAR, her focus areas include weather science, atmospheric technologies, and space exploration. Her day-to-day responsibilities include meeting with scientists and engineers to evaluate new inventions for patentability and licensing potential, collaborating with business development teams, and building processes to support commercialization efforts. As she continues to establish UCAR’s technology transfer function, a significant portion of her work involves developing training programs to educate scientists and engineers about intellectual property and commercialization pathways, making technology transfer more accessible to researchers across disciplines.

Previously, Anna served as a Technology Transfer Consultant at Fuentek, LLC and as a Business Development Consultant in Physical Sciences at Skysong Innovations. She also held multiple roles at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, including Manager of IP & Commercialization and Technology Transfer Specialist, where she supported initiatives under the Air Force Research Laboratory Partnership Intermediary Agreement.

Anna earned her MBA in Entrepreneurship from The University of New Mexico and holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of New Mexico School of Engineering.