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Measuring the success of technology transfer at Universities and Institutes

20 September 2007

A recent article in the Journal of the Association of University Technology Managers (Vol XIX 2007) proposes new metrics for the performance and success of Technology Transfer Offices (often known in Australia as Business Development Offices) at publicly funded universities and institutes.

It is well known that organisations respond to metrics, or to put it another way - “you get what you measure”. The authors, therefore, call for measuring knowledge flow to the community instead of “patenting for the sake of counting patents”.
Clearly patents will often be involved in the flow of knowledge, however, to simply count patent applications does not convey a sense of the quality of a patent and the extent that a patent strategy matched the commercial strategy of the project.
Some of the new measures framed to encourage closer relationships with industry include:
  • The amount of sponsored/collaborative research;
  • Co-authoring between university and industry researchers;
  • Citation of patents by other academic researchers; and
  • Growth in employment and revenue by licensees after a collaboration or licence.

Other proposals to encourage entrepreneurial activities by academics is through:

  • valuing patents as publications, and
  • recognising licensing and commercialisation activity as positive measures of achievement in promotion and tenure.

 

Click here for further information . In particular, specific issues to be considered during licensing activities is available here.
Lachlan Wilson