Entrepreneurial Trends in University Tech Transfer

Research universities have long engaged in technology transfer ' most since the 1980s or earlier. Academic researchers are a source of significant innovation. Universities have the right (and in some cases the obligation) to patent and exploit such inventions, and patenting university technology is well accepted by most universities and their stakeholders. The recipe was supposed to be simple: patent a handful of inventions from university labs, license them for a comfortable royalty, and sit back and enjoy the revenue. <br/>In reality, the challenges of identifying promising technologies, paying the upfront patent costs, and locating and negotiating with licensees have proven challenging for many universities ' with the result that they never really made it very far down the path to tech transfer glory.

22 minute read April 30, 2004 at 03:00 PM

By

Devin S. Morgan