What is technology transfer?
How do academic institutions measure success in
technology transfer?
What are
the benefits of university technology transfer efforts?
Has there been growth in academic technology
transfer programs?
Why has
there been such a growth in technology transfer programs?
How does the public benefit from
university-industry partnerships?
How do universities use the revenues realized from
licensing?
What is the future
of academic technology transfer?
What is
technology transfer?
Technology transfer is a term used to describe a formal transfer of
rights to use and commercialize new discoveries and innovations
resulting from scientific research to another party. Universities
typically transfer technology through protecting (using patents and
copyrights), then licensing new innovations. The major steps in this
process include the disclosure of innovations, patenting the innovation
concurrent with publication of scientific research and licensing the
rights to innovations to industry for commercial development.
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How do academic
institutions measure success in technology transfer?
Early numerical measures include the number of patents filed, license
agreements executed and new companies formed. Later numerical measures
include revenues from license fees, royalties and cash from equity
investments paid to the academic institutions and the numbers of
products successfully introduced to the market. Success is also
demonstrated by the impact the products have on our lives.
Other non-numerical - but equally important - results of technology
transfer include a university's ability to retain entrepreneurial
faculty, attract outstanding graduate students, contribute to the
institutional reputation for innovation, augment its research program
through interaction with the private sector and enhance its reputation
for providing highly trained students for the industrial work force.
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What are the benefits of
university technology transfer efforts?
Academic technology transfer - the licensing of innovations by
universities, teaching hospitals, research institutes and patent
management firms - adds billions of dollars to the U.S. economy and
supports hundreds of thousands of jobs. It contributes to the spawning
of new businesses, creating new industries and opening new markets. Most
important, technology transfer from universities to the commercial
sector has led to new products and services that improve our quality of
life. From new cancer treatments to faster modems, from environmentally
friendly metal processing to beautiful flowering plants, technology
transfer from academic institutions is advancing the way we live and
work.
Read The
Better World Report for examples of the benefits of academic
technology transfer.
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Has there been growth in academic technology
transfer programs?
Yes. Academic institutions have seen a significant increase in
technology transfer activity. For example, before 1980, fewer than 250
patents were issued to U.S. universities each year and discoveries were
seldom commercialized for the public's benefit. In contrast, in fiscal
year 2011, AUTM members reported that 4,700 patents were issued. In
addition, in fiscal year 2011, 4,899 new license agreements were signed
19,905 total U.S. patent applications were filed and 671 startups were
formed.
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Why has
there been such a growth in technology transfer programs?
This success in university technology transfer and the resulting
economic and health benefits, is the direct result of the passage of
the1980 Bayh-Dole Act. Co-sponsored by Senators Birch Bayh and Robert
Dole, the Bayh-Dole Act enabled universities, nonprofit research
institutions and small businesses to own and patent inventions developed
under federally funded research programs. Before the passage of this
legislation, new discoveries resulting from federally sponsored research
passed immediately into the public domain. The provisions of the act,
however, provided an incentive for universities to protect their
innovations and, therefore, for industry to make high-risk investments
resulting in products made from those innovations.
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How does the public
benefit from university-industry partnerships?
When industries license technologies from universities, continuing
collaborative partnerships will often help move new discoveries from the
laboratory to the marketplace. Partnerships enable researchers who make
initial discoveries to participate in further developments. Generally,
the involvement of the original creators in the continued development of
the technology will significantly reduce the time to actual
commercialization.
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How do universities use the revenues realized from
licensing?
Revenues realized as a result of licensing activities by academic
institutions are shared with the creators of the technology according to
a policy formula adopted by the individual institution and used to help
advance scientific research and education through reinvestment in the
academic enterprise. The revenues held by the university are typically
distributed to university research departments to provide for matters
such as graduate research assistants, new equipment or funding for new
or follow-on research activities. Universities also use revenues to help
sustain the technology transfer process by paying for a portion of the
patent and licensing legal fees and the marketing and management
staff.
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What is the
future of academic technology transfer?
AUTM members cannot predict the exact results of technology transfer
efforts in the short term. However, the maturing portfolio of thousands
of license agreements is likely to yield several hundred new product
introductions for the coming year, and even another several hundred over
the next two to five years.
An increase in the number of licensed products on the market predicts
that the reported sales of licensed products, estimated in the billions
of dollars, will also increase. Continued creation of new companies will
continue stimulating preproduction investment in academic inventions.
Thus, without knowing exactly which products will become available or
which companies, AUTM can still expect to report a growing portfolio of
important and practical inventions and growing public benefit and
economic impact of its members' technology transfer activities.
For more information, see AUTM
Licensing Surveys.
Most important, there is a growing recognition within academia and
industry that university technology transfer efforts afford significant
opportunities to many communities:
