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Study: Basic R&D Robust; University Patenting Grows
A new University of Wisconsin-Madison study indicates that despite an explosion in academic patenting, most life science professors still do research the "old-fashioned" way -- by winning federal grants, publishing results in scientific journals, and graduating PhD students, researchers Brad Barham and Jeremy Foltz.
Their online survey of more than 1,800 U.S. life scientists 125 universities found that 90 percent of researchers held one or fewer patents, and just 8 percent had received patent revenues. Federal funds made up 67 percent of the pool's research budget, while industry funds contributed 5 percent.
Furthermore, 53 percent of scientists reported no commercial ties whatsoever, such as invention disclosures or company board memberships. "The connection to commercialization appears to be marginal in terms of funding the overall research enterprise," Foltz said in a press release.
When the Bayh-Dole Act gave American universities the right to patent inventions made with federal dollars and license them to firms for profit, patenting soared, they said. In the years since, the number of patents issued annually has grown from 40 to nearly 800 in life sciences alone, and so have licensing deals and faculty spin-off companies.
Posted by Andrew on September 14, 2007 01:30 PM | Permalink
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