One of the original intentions of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 was to make federally-funded U.S. university research more readily available to small businesses. It worked. Today, three decades later, universities do a brisk business licensing patents to small, technology-based businesses. Each year, roughly half of the patent licenses that universities sign are to small technology-based firms managed by regional entrepreneurs. These small firms employ fewer than 500 employees, offer their regions high quality technology jobs, and transform early-stage university research into innovative products or services.
What many people don’t realize is that these small businesses are not the Googles or the “get rich quick” whiz kid startup that comes up with a radically new product, successfully navigates the shark-infested waters of venture capital, and then goes public in a blaze of fiscal glory a few years after signing its first patent license. No, most of the small businesses that come looking for university patents have been around for a few years, live nearby, will never end up on the NASDAQ or hone their elevator pitch at cocktail parties. These small businesses don’t have equity to give to the university since there’s no “exit strategy.” These small business entrepreneurs don’t dream of big riches. They dream of being their own boss, making payroll, feeding their families, and spending their days doing something that matters.
To read the full, original article click on this link: University patents and our nation’s forgotten entrepreneurs « Triple Helix Innovation
Author: Melba Kurman
