More Than Money: The Exponential Impact of Academic Technology Transfer

Abstract

Academic technology transfer in its current form began with the passage of the Bayh–Dole Act in 1980, which allowed universities to retain ownership of federally funded intellectual property. Since that time, a profession has evolved that has transformed how inventions arising in universities are treated, resulting in significant impact to US society. While there have been a number of articles highlighting benefits of technology transfer, now, more than at any other time since the Bayh–Dole Act was passed, the profession and the impacts of this groundbreaking legislation have come under intense scrutiny. This article serves as an examination of the many positive benefits and evolution, both financial and intrinsic, provided by academic invention and technology transfer, summarized in Table 1.

Modernizing federal technology transfer metrics

“…Since licensing income is an obvious outcome of commercialization activities and is required to be reported under the Technology Transfer Commercialization Act of 2000 , licensing income as well as patents became common metrics to measure technology transfer programs. This led to a belief that the most successful ORTAs and technology transfer offices (TTOs, the university equivalent to the federal ORTA) are those that are able to generate the most income through licensing (McDevitt et al 2014). However, use of either patenting activities or licensing income as metrics is highly misleading, especially within the context of a federal laboratory, as the vast majority of patents are never licensed, and it is common that a single license disproportionally accounts for nearly all of the income received by a particular TTO (or ORTA), which may otherwise have low or moderate performance by other measures (Vinig and Lips 2015;Lemley and Feldman 2016).…”

Translating Smart Kitchen technologies from the lab to the home

“…McDevitt et al (2014) reported $2.6 billion total income received by reporting universities. In addition to these revenue Phillip H. Phan -9781785363436 Downloaded from Elgar Online at 05/13/2018 12:04:57AM via free access generation results, other benefits from technology transfer noted in this study include increased opportunities for funding as a result of technology transfer programs, promotion of a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation, increased student success, public benefits through both universities meeting their public missions and improved quality of life, and economic development.…”

Changing the academic culture: Valuing patents and commercialization toward tenure and career advancement

“…Technology transfer activities help build long-term partnerships. "While that initial technology may never reach the market place, additional research contracts, student educational experiences, and potential employment opportunities will continue to develop" (10). There are also increased opportunities for university-industry partnerships.…”

“…Benefits of patents and commercialization have been articulated in recent articles (8,10,11,12,13) and extend beyond just direct revenue generation through licensing, and consist of advantages such as: increased opportunities for research funding, access to unrestricted funds for further institutional investment, sustaining high scholarship level, student success, increased prestige, public benefit, and economic development.…”

“…From 1997 to 2007 university licensing had a $187 billion impact on US gross domestic product, a $457 billion impact on the US gross industrial output, and created 279,000 jobs (18). Many universities are also providing entrepreneurial training, product proof-of-concept support, and seed stage or gap funding to the local community, which contribute to local economic growth and retain local talent (10).…”