Useful Stats: 2005 AUTM Survey Results, by State

The Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) recently released the results of its fiscal year 2005 licensing survey. The survey, conducted annually by the nonprofit AUTM, provides quantitative information about licensing activities at U.S. and Canada universities, hospitals and research institutions. This year's format is slightly different, however. The 15th annual survey presents data accompanied by success stories and allows respondents to remain anonymous. Appendices also list institutions by the year their technology transfer activities began. The goal, AUTM states in its overview, is to see the number of survey respondents grow and encourage thoughtful discussion.

Among highlights in the 2005 U.S. Licensing Survey Summary, U.S. academic centers responding to the survey had more than $42 billion in R&D expenditures during FY 2005. The summary also notes:

• Total research support from all external sources is fairly stable, with an increase of only $1.1 billion over 2004 data. The percentage of support from federal versus industrial sources remained constant, with 67 percent federal funding and 7 percent industrial funding.
• Invention disclosures received continued to rise, up to 17,382 — an increase of 571, or 3.5 percent. More invention disclosures for copyrightable works, and fewer for potentially patentable innovations, were reported in 2005 when compared to 2004, the first year this question was asked.
• Total U.S. patent applications filed increased to 15,115 in 2005, up from 13,803 in 2004, while total U.S. patents issued decreased — from 3,680 in 2004 to 3,278 in 2005. This decrease is indicative of the backlog at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, according to the summary.
• Licensing to small companies dominated total licensing; the majority of all licenses were non-exclusive.
• Licenses/options increased from 2004 to 2005. Survey respondents reported 4,932 new licenses/options for FY 2005 for a total of 28,349 active licenses, which represent ongoing relationships with existing companies.

The 2005 Canadian Licensing Survey Summary reveals the 36 responding Canadian institutions received more than $52 million (CAN) in licensing income. These institutions also had more than $42 million (CAN) in total R&D expenditures, filed 685 new patent applications, and received 1,433 invention disclosures.

SSTI has prepared a summary table of selected U.S. data from the 2005 survey. The table reflects state totals for the 181 responding institutions for which data was available, as provided by AUTM, including one university that asked to have its name withheld (identified as "anonymous" in the table). Categories include licensing FTE, research expenditures, number of licenses or options executed, cumulative active licenses, startups N.A., U.S. patents issued, new patent applications, and licensing income. The table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/030507t.htm

The 2005 U.S. Licensing Survey Summary is available as a PDF at http://autm.net/pdfs/US_LS_05Final.pdf.

The 2005 Canadian Licensing Survey Summary may be downloaded as a PDF at http://autm.net/pdfs/05_CanadaFINAL.pdf.

Full reports for 2005 and earlier editions of the survey, as well as printed copies of the summaries, also are available by visiting AUTM at www.autm.net.