The push to give universities significant control over intellectual property that emerges from  federally funded research at their institutions “has been more effective than the pre-1980 system in making research advances available to the public and spurring innovation,” says a new report from the National Research Council. “Nevertheless, the current system needs improvement, according to the report:”

“The public investment in research universities has led to a great deal of new knowledge that can benefit society, and the movement of research results to those who can commercialize them creates jobs and strengthens the economy, contributes to the advance of human health, and adds to the nation’s security,” said Mark S. Wrighton, chair of the committee that wrote the report, and chancellor and professor of chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis. “The movement of intellectual property from universities to new and mature companies is a healthy process, but one that can be improved. Our committee’s report provides some recommendations for those involved in this transfer of knowledge.”

University leaders should articulate a clear mission for intellectual property management — one that stresses the responsibility to disseminate technologies for the public good and does not predicate licensing on the goal of raising significant revenue for the university — and should evaluate their institutions’ efforts accordingly, the report says. Universities also should consider additional ways to engage faculty in commercializing their inventions, as successful commercialization often depends on inventor involvement. In addition, because Bayh-Dole did not establish a stable, effective framework for government oversight, such responsibilities should be clearly assigned within the federal bureaucracy, the report says.

For more on the topic, see the Association of University Technology Managers.

AUTM’s global network of members come from more than 350 universities, research institutions, teaching hospitals and government agencies as well as hundreds of companies involved with managing and licensing innovations derived from academic and nonprofit research.

The association was founded in 1974 as the Society of University Patent Administrators with the objective of addressing a concern that inventions funded by the U.S. government were not being commercialized effectively. Through the years AUTM has grown beyond this single objective and now provides professional development and networking opportunities for technology transfer professionals at all career levels and from established and newly forming organizations worldwide.

A couple of New England  names on the National Research Council Panel:  

Mark C. Fishman (vice chair)
President and Chief Executive Officer
Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research Inc.
Cambridge, Mass.

David Korn
Vice Provost for Research
Harvard University
Cambridge, Mass.

Dorothy K. Robinson
Vice President and General Counsel
Yale University
New Haven, Conn.

Still tech transfer remains strong, From the Tech Transfer tactics web site.  

Although 2009 income from licenses declined 32.5% from the previous year, AUTM does not attribute this finding directly to the economy. In the previous two annual licensing surveys, institutions had negotiated extraordinary partial royalty buyouts that significantly boosted overall royalties — an event that did not occur in 2009. All told, the number of licenses executed increased by 5.6%, while the number of options decreased by 3.4%. The number of start-ups launched in 2009 was essentially unchanged.

Other data — released prior to the December 2010 publication of the annual AUTM Licensing Activity Survey — reveal that:

• 658 commercial products were introduced in 2009;
• 5,328 total license and options were executed;
• 596 companies were formed;
• 3,423 university start-ups continued to operate at the end of FY 2009;
• Disclosures increased by 1%, to 20,309 disclosures, led by medical (3,272 disclosures), biomedical engineering (1,899), biological/life science (1,388), and computer science (1,284);
• Research expenditures increased by 4.2%, to $53.5 billion in total sponsored research, including $33.3 billion in federally sponsored research (up 1.9%), and $4.0 billion in industry-sponsored research (up 8.2%);
• Income from licenses was $2.3 billion, including $1.6 billion in running royalties, $24.4 million in cashed-in equity, and $362 million in other income.
• 18,214 U.S. patent applications were filed, and 3,417 U.S. patents were issued.