Who is Selling the Ivory Tower?

The 1990s witnessed a dramatic increase in thelicensing activity of U.S. research universities.The sources of thisincrease, as well as the possibility that such an increase signals a change inthe nature of university research, warrant investigation.Thisinvestigation requires a model of technology transfer as a three-stageproduction process involving multiple inputs in each stage.The threestages follow the sequence of steps typically involved in licensing universityinventions. Two types of evidence on the sources of growth are provided.The firstis a productivity analysis that incorporates Association of UniversityTechnology Managers survey data for 65 U.S. universities between 1994 and1997.The data shed light on the extent to which growth in each stage is adirect result of increases in inputs devoted to technology transfer.Thesecond is a survey of businesses who licensed university inventions between1993 and 1997.These data clarify the extent to which licensing has grownbecause of changes in the tendency of faculty and administrators to engage incommercial activity.Taken together, the data reveal that the primaryreason for the increase in licensing activity may indeed be an increasedwillingness offaculty to license rather than a change in faculty researchfocus.Universities are also more receptive to industry contracts.(SAA)