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Abstract

The results of a recently published survey of university technology transfer managers indicate that many US universities and academic research institutes are now experiencing increases in the licensing of their patented technologies to commercial entities, resulting in the creation of new companies offering high-paying jobs and significant potential for impact on the local and national economy. What distinguishes these universities and their technology transfer efforts appears to be a strong and continuing focus on the value of their technologies, a university policy which recognizes and encourages the entrepreneurial efforts of their faculty and, most importantly, the creation of, or access to, a business support system which understands how modern technology-based industries operate. This business support activity is most significant in identifying the needs of industry and developing an awareness of the importance of responsiveness in dealing with corporate leaders and decision makers. This paper looks at some of the more significant trends referred to above, outlines the characteristics of the more aggressive (and successful) technology transfer organizations, and discusses a variety of programmes which have been evolved to enhance or accelerate the commercialization of university developed innovations.

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References

Unpublished survey conducted by Minnesota Technology, Inc, 1994. Minnesota Technology, Inc is a non-profit economic development organization created by the Minnesota State Legislature in 1991. In 1992 MTI was designated as a NIST (National Institute of Science and Technology) Manufacturing Technology Center. In 1997 MTI became an affiliate of the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

Page

Science

, New York Times, 13 May 1997.

Address to the Minnesota Digital Summit by Yudof

Mark

, President of the University of Minnesota, St Paul Pioneer Press, St Paul, MN, 23 October 1997; ‘The Agenda for Change’, an address by James Moeser, Chancellor, University of Nebraska, presented at the University of Kansas, Merril Center for Advanced Studies, 13 June 1997.

Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), Licensing Survey, Fiscal Years pp. 1991–1995, AUTM, February 1997.

Ibid.

Data published by the National Science Board and reprinted in Minneapolis-St Paul City Business, 24 January 1997.

A report of April1997 from the University of Minnesota Technology Transfer Office indicated that four staff were then assigned to licensing activity.

Bylinsky

Gene

‘Who will pay for the start-ups?’

Fortune Magazine, Vol 131, No 12, 26 June 1995, p 128.

Op cit, Ref 1.

10.

Op cit, Ref 6.

11.

See SBA Internet Home Page — http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov/SBIR/sbir.html and SBA Internet Home Page — http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov/SBIR/sttr.html.

12.

Tor details, see SBA Internet Home Page — http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov/SBIR/sbir.html.

13.

For details, see SBA Internet Home Page — http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov/SBIR/sttr.html.

14.

See DARPA/SBIR Home Page — http://www.darpa.mil/sbir/sbir/sbir/html.

15.

See ATP/NIST Home Page — http://www.atp.nist.gov/atp/overview.html.

Funding the Commercialization of University Innovations

Abstract

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References