Direct comparison
LES vs AUTM: Which to Join as a New TTO Hire
LES USA & Canada vs. AUTM: which to join first as a new TTO hire, covering dues, chapters, meetings, and credentialing overlap.
Side-by-side comparison
| Dimension | LES USA & Canada | AUTM |
|---|---|---|
| Core audience | Licensing professionals across industries: university licensing staff, corporate licensing executives, IP attorneys/agents, valuation specialists, and consultants working on IP transactions. | Technology-transfer professionals specifically working in university, hospital, research-institute, and government-lab TTOs. |
| Parent/affiliate structure | The U.S. and Canada national society within LES International (LESI), a federation of roughly 30 national/regional licensing societies worldwide. | Independent nonprofit association (founded 1974); affiliated with the Alliance for Technology Transfer Professionals (ATTP), which administers the RTTP credential. |
| Membership tiers | Individual, student/academic, and young-professional categories; many members are registered and dues-supported through an employer IP-owner organization. | Full (individual professional), student, lower-cost digital, and emeritus tiers; corporate/institutional multi-seat arrangements available. |
| Flagship annual event | LES USA & Canada Annual Meeting, typically in the fall (2026: San Diego, October 18-21). | AUTM Annual Meeting, typically in late winter/spring (2026: Seattle), with a large exhibit floor and course-based programming. |
| Regional/local events | Dense local chapter calendar (e.g. San Diego, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, New Jersey chapters, among others) with regular in-person meetings and webinars year-round. | Fewer standing local chapters; networking is more concentrated in the national Annual Meeting and periodic regional/affiliate events. |
| Networking structure | Geographic chapters plus cross-industry sector groups and committees, with access to sister societies internationally through LESI. | Practice-area committees (licensing, startups, professional development) centered on the national Annual Meeting. |
| Credentialing link | LES International administers the Certified Licensing Professional (CLP) exam (opportunity assessment/valuation, IP protection, drafting, negotiation, agreement management). | Affiliated with ATTP, which separately administers the RTTP (Registered Technology Transfer Professional) credential; AUTM itself runs courses and Annual Meeting curriculum but does not administer a credential directly. |
| Best first fit for a new hire | Licensing attorneys, corporate licensing staff, IP-transaction specialists, or anyone prioritizing local chapter access and the CLP pathway. | University/hospital TTO licensing associates, invention-disclosure and patent staff, and startup-support staff whose day-to-day work maps directly onto AUTM's curriculum. |
Common questions
FAQ
Should a new tech transfer office hire join AUTM or LES USA & Canada first?+
It depends on the role. A licensing associate or invention-disclosure staffer inside a university TTO generally gets more immediate value from AUTM, since its Annual Meeting curriculum and committees map directly onto university TTO workflow. A licensing attorney, corporate licensing professional, or someone working IP transactions across industries generally gets more from LES USA & Canada, given its broader membership base and denser local-chapter structure. Many professionals join both within their first two to three years.
Does AUTM or LES USA & Canada administer the CLP or RTTP credential?+
LES, through LES International (LESI), administers the Certified Licensing Professional (CLP) exam. RTTP (Registered Technology Transfer Professional) is administered separately by the Alliance for Technology Transfer Professionals (ATTP), a body AUTM is affiliated with. Neither AUTM nor LES USA & Canada membership itself confers either credential automatically. See the full comparison for exam details.
Can I join both AUTM and LES USA & Canada?+
Yes, and it's common for established tech-transfer professionals to hold both memberships. The organizations are complementary rather than mutually exclusive: AUTM for university-TTO-specific programming and the national Annual Meeting, LES USA & Canada for its broader IP-licensing community, local chapters, and the CLP credential pathway.
How much do AUTM and LES USA & Canada membership dues cost?+
Both organizations set current dues on their own membership pages rather than a fixed public schedule, and pricing varies by membership tier (individual/full, student, digital, corporate). Check autm.net/membership and members.lesusacanada.org/page/membershipdues directly for current figures before budgeting.
