Most US universities maintain three core businesses that earn most of their revenue: selling diplomas, competing for federal and industry research sponsorships, and trying to crack open the checkbooks of wealthy alumni. Since the 1980s, universities have ventured into a new line of business: patenting inventions from university research labs and brokering these patents by licensing rights to businesses and startups. In the terminology of Henry Chesbrough, in the open innovation ecosystem, universities have branched beyond their traditional role of innovation explorers (they generate knowledge) to become innovation merchants (they license their knowledge to other organizations).
To read the full, original article click on this link: Teaching, research, alumni donations … and accumulating patents « Triple Helix Innovation
Author: Melba Kurman
