Where Do the Leads for Licences Come From?

Abstract

Knowing where licence and option leads come from can optimize the productivity in university technology transfer offices. This article presents the sources of over 1,100 leads for licences and options from six different institutions: the University of Florida; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; the Oregon Health Sciences University; Tulane University; and the University of Utah. Data from each of the six offices confirm the authors' suspicions that the majority of the leads come from inventors. The methodology used to gather the data is also described.