Benefits Of Tech Transfer Reported

The biotechnology industry says a new study provides evidence of the importance of university and industry R&D partnerships to the U.S. economy. The study of university technology licensing from 1996 to 2007 shows a $187 billion impact on the U.S. gross national product—a measure of the nation's output of goods and services. The licensing activity added $457 billion to gross industrial output, according to the Biotechnology Industry Organization, the industry trade group that funded the study. A 1980 law—the Bayh-Dole Act—allows university inventors to patent their discoveries and license them to commercial partners. "Because of this inspired piece of legislation, the U.S. leads the world in commercializing university-based research to create new companies and good, high-paying jobs throughout the country," BIO President James C. Greenwood says. The study also found that university-licensed products commercialized by industry created at least 279,000 new jobs across the U.S. during the 12-year period. Before passage of Bayh-Dole, inventions arising from billions of taxpayer dollars invested annually in university research were rarely commercialized because of restrictive patenting and licensing practices, the report notes.