How Do University Inventions Get Into Practice?

this paper was provided by the Andrew Mellon Foundation and Columbia Universitys Office of the Executive Vice Provost. We are indebted to the technology transfer offices of Columbia University and Stanford University for access to their records. 1. Introduction For most readers of this essay, the striking increase in patenting and licensing activities at American research universities since the late 1970s is a familiar story. The number of patents issued to universities and colleges more than doubled between 1979 and 1984, did so again between 1984 and 1989, and nearly doubled once more over the 1990s. In 1980 approximately 20 universities had technology licensing and transfer offices. By 1990 that number was 200, and by 2000 nearly every major research university had one. University license revenues have increased from 220 million in to 698 million from 1991 to 1997 alone (Association of University Technology Managers, 1998). But while the surface story