Last week Intellectual Ventures revealed its list of major investors. On it were several major U.S. research universities and research organizations.
- Brown University
- Cornell University
- Grinnell College
- Mayo Clinic
- Northwestern University
- Stanford University
- University of Minnesota
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Southern California
- University of Texas
You may be asking yourself, so what’s the big deal about a university investing its endowment in Intellectual Ventures?
After all, according to conventional dictates of what constitutes as “good investment,” Intellectual Ventures is a real and legitimate company led by a famous and well-established executive team. In fact, over the past decade, it has raised $5 billion from investors and has grown to employ 650 employees and at last count, has accumulated a patent portfolio roughly the size of IBM’s – 30,000 active patents. Sure, the company is the target of controversy and criticism due to its business model, but that hasn’t stopped universities from investing their endowments before (remember the public controversies over university investments in Nike, and South African mines, Big Tobacco, Big Pharma, etc.?).
To read the full, original article click on this link: Intellectual Ventures and university patents « Triple Helix Innovation
Author: Melba Kurman
