Universities as a Source of Commercial Technology : A Detailed Analysis of University Patenting, 1965-1988

Between 1965 and 1992 university patenting increased 1500%, while all patenting increased less than 50% and patents granted to US citizens remained constant. Because universities are dedicated to the principle of knowledge dissemination, knowledge transfer to the private sector is probable. Federal legislation in 1980 and 1984 facilitated universities' retention of rights to patents resulting from federally-funded research; because competition for federal funding has increased, much university research has sought alternative funding and universities have also created institutional technology offices. At first it appears that legislative and institutional changes have had significant effects on the way in which university-generated knowledge is transferred to the private sector. The evidence indicates, however, that the Bayh-Dole Act and other changes in federal law have not engendered significant changes in the underlying rate of the university generation of commercially important inventions. Statistics from a database of all patents assigned to universities and related institutions between 1965 and mid-1992, a 1% random sample of all US patents granted during the same time period, and the complete set of all patents that cite either of these groups are mobilized. They indicate that rather than an increase in the number of ‘important' inventions from universities, the observed increase in university patenting evinces a ‘propensity to patent,' with a possible concomitant increase of knowledge transfer to the private sector. (RAS)