Intellectual Property and Universities: A Path Forward

During the past three decades there has been an increasing focus on the commercialization of technologies developed by academe. Prior to this, research funding by the U.S. Government was skewed toward pure science and mention of commercialization was viewed negatively more often than not. Today's research funding landscape has reversed the negative view of commercialization, with many Requests for Proposals having specific requirements toward commercialization assessments. This change in mindset has dramatically increased the importance of intellectual property (IP) created by academic research. In fact, most universities have Technology Transfer Offices actively seeking commercialization opportunities for IP created through research activities. The impact of commercialization focus has also affected funding beyond universities. Startup efforts leveraging university IP have become commonplace, with the number of funding mechanisms increasing dramatically. Corporate engagement and interest in university research has evolved as well through the creation of consortia that have expanded the interconnection between industry and academe beyond sponsored research projects. The role of university Technology Transfer Offices has had to evolve to accommodate business engagements at startup and corporate levels, leading to a complex IP landscape that involves universities, startups, and large industrial players. The education of future researchers remains the prime directive of universities, while corporate/startup recruiting is, and will continue to be, a critical component to the relationship between business and academe. Through this Point of View contribution, we provide insight into the cycle of university IP and funding that has evolved through increased commercialization focus for research technologies, highlighting and the resulting relationships between academe, startups, and corporations and offer our opinions on how the future of universities and intellectual property should evolve. Two university IP-based startups from our personal experience are then described to provide examples of possible paths for such efforts. © 2017 IEEE.