Title: Recent trends of technology transfer in US universities with comparison to those following Bayh-Dole Act

Authors: Ampere A. Tseng; Miroslav Raudensky

Addresses: Manufacturing Institute, Arizona State University, 501 E. Tyler Mall, ECG301, Tempe, Arizona 85287-6106, USA ' Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology, 616 69 Brno, Czech Republic

Abstract: Patents and licenses are foundational to successful technology transfer. In this article, the activities and performance of university patenting and licensing are studied to gauge the effectiveness of the Bayh-Dole Act (the 'Act'), the most influential piece of US legislation on UTT. Based on raw data from five sources, the annual numbers of patents granted, licenses signed, and startup companies launched are analysed. Correlations are performed for all data presented to quantify trends over different time periods. We found that patenting and licensing activities in US universities slowed down greatly after 2000 and remained flat until the period from 2010 to 2012, when activities recover to the level of strength characterising the period before 2000 and after the enactment of the Act. We explain some of the differences found among different data sources and time periods.

Keywords: Bayh-Dole Act; commercialisation; innovation; patents; startups; technology transfer; university patenting; university licensing; USA; United States.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTTC.2013.064156

International Journal of Technology Transfer and Commercialisation, 2013 Vol.12 No.1/2/3, pp.139 - 156

Received: 04 Dec 2013
Accepted: 05 Mar 2014
Published online: 10 Sep 2014 *

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