Home > Topics > Innovation and IP Management: A Contextual Overview > IP Management and Deal Making for Global Health Outcomes: The New “Return on Imagination” (ROI) > Editor's Summary, Implications and Best Practices

Technology transfer works. When we get into a car and buckle up, when we sweeten our coffee with saccharin, when we search the Internet using Google^TM, or when we take advantage of the innumerable medical and agricultural advances of the last quarter-century, we are reaping the benefits of technology transfer. Universities do not only educate the next generation and create new knowledge; the knowledge that they create also saves lives, enhances the quality of life, and increases economic productivity.

The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 aimed to move inventions from the laboratory bench to store shelves more quickly. It allowed U.S. universities and public research institutions to patent inventions that were based on federally funded research and then license those inventions to the private sector.

In the fiscal year 2004, U.S. institutions:

• spent $40 billion in research and development;
• issued 4,783 licenses;
• managed 27,322 active licenses; and
• facilitated the creation of 462 new spinout companies, bringing the total number of spinout companies created since 1980 to 4,543.
  (Statistics are taken from the AUTM Licensing Survey^TM, which regularly surveys U.S. and Canadian members)

Each of the 27,322 licenses mentioned above represents the collaboration of an academic center with a private-sector company.

Recently, the spinout company and the product-development partnership (PDP) have begun to supplement traditional patent and technology licensing. A spinout company is a company created with the express purpose of creating commercial applications for a university-owned technology.

PDPs are tightly focused organizations dedicated to developing products for neglected diseases in developing countries. Venture Philanthropy is one successful PDP. Some people continue to question the fairness of the global IP system, but others are using the new opportunities created by this system to improve the lives of the poor in the developing world.

Technology transfer is changing rapidly. The mission of technology transfer offices has traditionally been to make university-generated innovation available to the public as rapidly as possible. However, technology transfer offices now have an even broader purpose: to enhance the reputation of academic institutions and to help them to achieve their missions of education and outreach by helping them form relationships with the private sector. Technology transfer has the potential to benefit the entire world. As technology transfer develops, it will undoubtedly metamorphose to adapt to new conditions.

Key Implications and Best Practices

Given that IP management is heavily context specific, these Key Implications and Best Practices are intended as starting points to be adapted to specific needs and circumstances.

For Government Policymakers

• The Bayh-Dole Act has become a model for technology transfer world-wide. The E.U., Japan, China, India, and many others are using the expertise of for-profit companies to develop and commercialize new products based on academic research. Legislation that emulates the principles and spirit of the U.S. Bayh-Dole Act can be tailored in order to fit the specific needs of a country.

For Senior Management (university president, R&D manager, etc.)

• Rather than asking existing companies to develop university-based products, universities and their faculty are increasingly turning to a new mechanism—the spinout company.
• PDPs are becoming more and more common in developed countries. These organizations are dedicated to developing products for neglected diseases in developing countries.

For Scientists

• You are the first step in the innovation process. Technology transfer transforms your research into products that benefit the general public.

For Technology Transfer Officers

• The traditional mission of technology transfer offices (to bring university-generated intellectual property to the public as rapidly as possible) is broadening. Technology transfer enhances the reputation of academic institutions and helps them achieve their missions, both at home and abroad.