Abstract
By analyzing the highlights of the major activities reported by the technology transfer offices (TTOs) of twenty US major universities, the performances of TTO activities are quantitatively assessed and the associated scores are compared with each other. The key performance indicators, which govern the success of the university technology transfer, are specifically selected and examined. Two normalized metrics, overall performance metric (OPM) and patenting control ratio (PCR), which are the representing combined indicators for the TTO performance, are developed and demonstrated. The two metrics are evaluated for each university selected and compared to specifically provide a comprehensive overview of how good is the TTO of a university as compare to those of its peers. Finally, the factors for a successful TTO are described and the major unsolved issues are also discussed.
Highlights
After the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act by United States Congress in 1980, more than two-hundred fifty U.S universities have establish a certain type of technology transfer offices (TTOs) to cope with the increase amount of technology transfer activities (Stevens, 2004; Anderson, Daim, Lavoie, 2007)
The Bayh-Dole Act allows a university to retain title to federally funded inventions and encourages universities to license inventions to industry.The ownership to the intellectual properties provides motivation, especially economic incentives, for a university to promote and emphasize the technology transfer activities.According to the studies by AUTM (Association of University Technology Managers, 2012) and Tseng et al (Tseng, Raudensky, 2015), the number of patents issued to U.S universities grew from fewer than 250 in 1980 to 4,700 in 2011, a near 20-fold growth
A TTO is an administrative unit to manage all the activities related to technology transfer, where technology transfer refers to a process that transferring intellectual properties rights from a university to a for-profit sector for the purpose of commercialization
Summary
After the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act by United States Congress in 1980, more than two-hundred fifty U.S universities have establish a certain type of technology transfer offices (TTOs) to cope with the increase amount of technology transfer activities (Stevens, 2004; Anderson, Daim, Lavoie, 2007). The purpose of the present paper is to quantitatively assess the developments and performances of the technology transfer activities of twenty major research universities in the fiscal year 2011 (FY 2011). Six leading performance metrics are selected to measure the TTOs’ performance Using these six metrics, an overall performance metric (OPM) is developed to provide a single metric to quantify the accomplishment of the TTOs. The OPM are evaluated for each of the twenty universities, and the resulting scores are compared to each other to demonstrate its simplicity and comprehensiveness. The selections of the performance metrics and the universities for comparison as well as the data collections for the selected universities are presented
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