http://www.research.ucla.edu/patents
UCLA Technology Transfer
Patent/Licensing Data Analysis
Contact: Ken Polasko, Business Development Manager
kpolasko@resadmin.ucla.edu | 310-794-8078
Investigation of High-Value UCLA Patents
Presentation: AUTM 2005 Regional Meeting; Feb. 3-5, Arizona; event homepage
Author: Ken Polasko
Business Development Manager
UCLA Office of Intellectual Property
One of the most difficult decisions for a technology manager is
whether the future economic rewards for a patent filing and its
associated maintenance are worth the incurred risk. More specifically, the incurred risk is the probability that a patent will not recoup its total cost (legal fees and internal expenditures required to evaluate, process, license and track an invention disclosure). There have been many attempts to define a single parameter (e.g. net present value, option value, and other variations) to represent a patent’s potential value. If this were possible it would make every technology manager’s job (university and industry) much easier since one could simply prioritize the patent filings via this single parameter along with the annual expense and then draw a line when the portfolio’s expense equals the budget. Unfortunately, single-parameter, patent valuation methodologies have limited predictive capability.
There are many parameters that potentially could influence patent risk/reward analysis. In the university environment some of the parameters that might lend some insight into the potential economic value are: citation history, time-to-first revenue, inventor track record, government or private funding, and technology transfer office history. One way to help understand the correlation/influence of these parameters on a patent’s potential is to review patents that have been historical performers.
VIEW POWERPOINT PRESENTATION
SELECTED PAPERS —
university tech-transfer and economic impact; patent citation/licensing analysis; and university-industry research collaborations.
Entrepreneurs, Star Scientists, and Biotechnology
Lynne G. Zucker and Michael R. Darby
We are studying the interaction of scientific and technological progress — particularly when breakthroughs or discontinuities occur — through in-depth case studies and econometric analysis of the science underlying biotechnology, the resulting formation of a new industry, and the transformation of existing industries. Our results indicate that the very best "star" scientists play central roles in both the development of the science and its successful commercialization. The importance of these individuals, especially the more entrepreneurial among them, derives from the tacit character of new breakthrough discoveries. In this way, knowledge, at least when it is new, is embodied in particular individuals; it cannot diffuse rapidly, as might easily-duplicated recipes.
http://www.nber.org/reporter/fall98/zucker-darby_fall98.html
Measuring the Impact of Academic Science on Industrial Innovation: The Case of California’s Research Universities
The Geographic Reach of Market and Non-Market Channels of Technology Transfer: Comparing Citations and Licenses of University Patents
David C. Mowery, Arvids A. Ziedonis
The growth of high-technology clusters in the United States suggests the presence of strong regional agglomeration effects that reflect proximity to universities or other research institutions. Using data on licensed patents from the University of California, Stanford University, and Columbia University, this paper compares the geographic 'reach' of knowledge flows from university inventions through two important channels: non-market 'spillovers' exemplified by patent citations and market contracts (licenses). We find that knowledge flows through market transactions to be more geographically localized than those operating through non-market 'spillovers.' Moreover, the differential effects of distance on licenses and citations are most pronounced for exclusively licensed university patents. We interpret these findings as reflecting the incomplete nature of licensing contracts and the need for licensees to maintain access to inventor know-how for many university inventions. Such access appears to be less important for inventions that are non-exclusively licensed (e.g. 'research tools').
http://www.nber.org/papers/W8568
Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers
James D. Adams, Eric P. Chiang, Katara Starkey
This paper takes a first look at the effect of Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRCs) on industrial R&D laboratories. IUCRCs are small academic centers designed to foster technology transfer between universities and firms. Since IUCRCs depend on industry support we expect them to further the research of member companies. Our findings suggest that IUCRCs promote industry-university technology transfer. We find strong associations between laboratory membership in IUCRCs and the importance of faculty consultants, co-authorship with faculty and hiring of graduate students to the laboratories. IUCRC membership contributes small increments, not always statistically significant, of 2% in laboratory patenting and research expenditures. Both estimates are larger for National Science Foundation IUCRCs, consistent with their quality and their sorting to larger laboratories. These results survive a simultaneous equation analysis of the joint decision to patent and join IUCRCs. Nevertheless more work is needed to separate the effect of the IUCRCs from the matching mechanism that assigns IUCRCs to R&D laboratories.
http://www.nber.org/papers/W7843
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