Patenting Activity in UK Universities

Abstract

<jats:p> This article reports the results of a national survey of patenting activity in UK universities carried out by Kathryn Packer and Andrew Webster as part of a wider project on patenting in the areas of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. The article seeks to explain the variation in the propensity for universities to patent, and their potential to generate significant income from these patents by reference to a number of factors, including research funding and industrial liaison staffing levels. </jats:p>

UK biotechnology: institutional linkages, technology transfer and the role of intermediaries

“…At an aggregate level, in the 9 years 1982/83 and 1991/92 university industrial income rose from f27m to f122m (an increase of a factor of 4.3, compared to an increase over the same period of E119m to f291m from the research councils, (an increase of a factor of 2.45). The average age of university industrial liaison offices was 7 years, when a national a survey was carried out in 1993 (Packer, 1994), providing further evidence of their relatively recent emergence. To illustrate this more specifically, several universities supplied the House of Commons…”

“…Measuring patenting outcomes and licensing income generated by universities offers a means to evaluate the more commercially relevant activities of universities. However, again there is a lack of comprehensive data on patents and income, at least in relation to UK universities, which makes econometric studies extremely difficult (Packer, 1994).…”

“…Patenting is normally carried out by external agents (none of the university-based intermediaries that were interviewed had inhouse specialised expertize in patent application or filing), but in general it appears that universities and sponsors rarely use external independent intermediaries for other transfer functions, with the exception of BTG. The survey of UK universities by Packer (1994), found that numerous links between UK universities and BTG still exist despite its privatization. Evidence presented to the House of Commons Select Committee (House of Commons 1994b see for example pp.…”

“…Two examples from well established large universities are UnivEd Ltdthe University of Edinburgh's technology transfer intermediary, which covenanted a profit of &308,000 in 1992/93 back to its parent university (House of Commons, 1994b, p. 181) and Imperial College's intermediary, which returned around &340,000 to the college in 1991/92 (House of Commons, 1994b, p. 161). These are examples from relatively large UK universities, and Packer's survey of UK University Industrial Liaison Offices, only 35% of respondents stated that their technology transfer activities were self financing (Packer 1994).…”

“…(1994). 'Markets for technology: Innovation kliSOn Offices are Comparatively young knowledge and the problem of Appropriability' in Stoneman, P (Packer, 1994) and possibly less experienced…”