Academic institutions have become increasingly central to driving innovation and contributing to economic development. Over the past decade, the transfer and commer- cialization of research (tech transfer) at Illinois universities have intensified: the state ranked among the nation’s leaders in tech transfer and in 2011 saw an unprecedented number of start-ups based on technology developed at Illinois’ universities.1 However, other states’ academic institutions continue to outperform Illinois,’ indicating more must be done to spur innovation.
