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Examines data from the Association of University Technology Managers concerning U.S. universities efforts to commercialize technology. Discussion on college approaches to technology transfer; Comparison of the various measures of performance in technology transfer between several universities; Information on the licensing income per dollar of research spending of the top ten research institutions.

Focuses on the implementation of the Second Generation Technology (2G) Transfer by Gerald Barnett, director of technology transfer at the University of California. Comments from faculty members on the innovation made by Barnett; Benefits of the 2G; Criticisms on the 2G.

Focuses on the trend of U.S. colleges rewarding incentive compensation to technology-transfer officials. Institutions that have adopted incentive-pay plans; Impact on technology-transfer officials; Benefits posed by the practice to colleges.

Reports on the passage of a bill of the House of Representatives that encourages the centralization of efforts to transfer the results of research to industry. Ambiguities of the bill; Specifications of a centralized approach; University officials' comments.

The article reports on the proposal issued by the administration of U.S. President Ronald Reagan to reduce federal support for cooperative technology programs between universities and businesses. U.S. Senator Charles McC. Mathias criticizes the proposal. The U.S. National Science Foundation has allocated $1.5 million for cooperative industry-university research centers and $1.2 million for university-based innovation centers during the fiscal year 1981.

The article discusses the ways that the nation of Israel has fueled economic growth through intellectual success. Israel's seven research universities have been making money from technology licensing long before 1980, when the United States' Bayh-Dole Act permitted American universities to monetize their research. The success of Israeli institutions is not only because of the high caliber of scientists and researchers making technological discoveries, but also because faculty members are so adept at patenting and licensing their research.

The article reports on a three-year technology transfer partnership between the University of Pennsylvania and Arizona State University to help commercialize their respective research findings. The two institutions will take advantage of one another's patent and licensing networks, as from the Penn medical school faculty, or Arizona State's drug therapy researchers.

Discusses a rating system which ranks United States universities' success in technology transfer. Questions from universities about the methodology of the system, which bases its rankings on how many times a school's patent was cited in applications for other patents; Rank of the University of California system as the most successful in technology transfer.

The article presents information on a Brigham Young University (BYU) project to use children's energy to produce electricity. The project was conceived by BYU alumnus Ben S. Markham, a retired engineer, who participated in a mission trip to Ghana, where he observed that classrooms have no lights and children have very few toys. He discussed with engineers how a merry-go-round, swings, and a zip line could provide both entertainment and learning opportunities in science and engineering. Markham proposed the project to a group of BYU seniors, and team leader Adrian T. Williams explains that they worked out a system of large gears and smaller pinions that would allow the generation of electricity in spite of the relatively slow spin of the merry-go-round.

The article reports that legislators have charged that some universities are selling the results of U.S.-financed research to foreign companies. The Industrial Liaison Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is one of the first attempts by a university to link research with technology transfer, was singled out by the lawmakers. Concerns were also raised about the information shared by Americans with foreign firms in exchange for payments to technology transfer programs.

The article reports on licensing revenues for U.S. universities and colleges. The author focuses on intellectual property rights for vaccines, drugs, and medical services at schools such as New York University and Northwestern University. Other topics include technology transfer on active licenses, start-up companies, and income for higher education.

The article discusses the lessons learned by Ohio University from a major security breach. According to national statistics, hackers account for half of all exposures. Physical loss, theft and fraud represent the second biggest risk. On April 21, 2006, the university got a call from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) telling them that the server for their Technology Transfer Department's office files had been compromised. With that initial information from the FBI about their tech-transfer office, they shut down that system and immediately reviewed what was happening all over the campus. The first and most critical part of the plan was to install a perimeter fire wall that would filter Internet traffic to protect computers outside the central cluster from hacker attacks.

Comments on educators' concerns over published reports alleging China had stolen advanced United States nuclear-weapons designs from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Proposed limits on technology transfer; China's denial of allegations; The need for scholars from the arms-control and weapons communities of China and the US to exchange views; Difficulty in building mutually acceptable approaches to security and safety; Impact of restricting scientific cooperation.

Focuses on an alliance between Novartis, a Swiss company, and the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of California in Berkeley. Exchange of expertise by the university for financial backing; Conception of idea by Gordon Rausser, head of the university's College of Natural Resources.

The article reports on the developments of John Hopkins University in the U.S. The university has established a company to invest in research and development profitable technologies as they aimed at commercializing their professors' discoveries. The new company will be competing with other firms for the rights to develop technologies in the university's laboratory. It will represent the latest twist in the growing trend of technology transfer field.

The article offers news briefs related to education in the U.S. The Senate has passed a measure limiting the amount of federal money that supports Presidential libraries. The House of Representatives has approved $ 26 million for a technology transfer center at Northwestern University. Also, the same has also approved the bill that would increase federal spending on education.

The article focuses on the report "Federal Energy Research and Development Priorities," conducted by the Energy Research Advisory Board of the U.S. Department of Energy. The board proposes to the administration of U.S. President Ronald Reagan for more support for conservation and technology-transfer programs. The report highlights high priorities in energy research.

The article presents deadlines for activities and events related to higher education in 1981 in the U.S. The deadline for the application for postdoctoral fellowships for study of the relationship of technology and society was on May 1. Applications for grants for U.S.-Latin America and Caribbean cooperative program was accepted until May 1. Research papers on the role of community colleges in the national technology transfer was accepted until May 30.

Reports on criticisms leveled at the Michigan Technological University over the Ventures Group Inc., a for-profit corporation that the university founded in 1986 to benefit the local community. Charges of conflict of interest and financial misappropriations against the university; Allegations that Ventures officials had improperly benefited from business deals; Response of the lawyers of Ventures to the allegations.

The article reports that President Ronald Reagan asked Congress to prevent federal laboratories in the U.S. from releasing technical and scientific information on superconductivity technology to foreign competitors in 1988. The move was prompted by concerns that the U.S. may lose the race to commercialize superconductivity in the international market.

The article presents information on two books which celebrate the origins of college based inventions in the U.S. that benefit society. The book "Technology Transfer Stories: 25 Innovations That Changed the World," contains accounts of the invention of products that include anticancer drug Taxol, based on Florida State research and agricultural products like the Honeycrisp apples. The other book, "Technology Transfer Works: 100 Cases From Research to Realization," comprises short descriptions of other inventions.

Reports that the University of California at Berkeley has signed a five-year $25-million research deal with giant Swiss biotechnology company, Novartis. The agreement which allows Novartis a first crack at commercializing the department's research findings in exchange for providing money to the university's department of plant and microbiology; Critics and proponents of the deal.

Discusses how the University of Alabama at Birmingham is starting its own venture-capital fund to develop campus companies and attract large investors. Details as to why universities need venture capital funds for finance; Statistics on the success and failure of these funds; View that universities should not be distracted from teaching and research and should not behave like a business; Discussion of the corporatization of education as presented in 'The Chronicle' June 4, 1999. INSET: What Venture Funds Do.

Focuses on the business failure of companies with products based on university inventions and licenses in the U.S. Factors contributing to failure of technology-transfer deals; Risks involved in the business of commercializing university inventions; Approach used by universities in avoiding companies with financial problems.

Reports that lawmakers in the U.S. are urging public research universities to begin commercializing discoveries to promote local economic development. Estimated number of the nation's governors that have called on legislatures to pump money into public universities' research and technology-transfer programs; Spending proposed by Ohio Governor Bob Taft to promote high technology economic development; State program proposed by New York Governor George E. Pataki.

The article reports on relations between venture capitalists and U.S. universities and colleges regarding technology-transfer deals. The author discusses estimating issues of timing, reaching out to investors, and constructing networks of contacts to solicit advice and ideas. Other topics include roadblocks to working out deals, poorly thought-out proposals, and the pace and terms of a deal.

The article reports that news that Alfred E. Mann, one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in the U.S. is getting ready to provide $2-billion to set up endowments at more than a dozen universities has sent university leaders at some of the nations' top research universities scrambling to make their case for a piece of the pie. But now, as officials are learning more about the conditions attached to the money offered by the Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Biomedical Engineering, several universities are growing uneasy about the idea.

Discusses the decision of several U.S. colleges to seek outside investors to sell their inventions with regards to the efforts of Auburn University in Auburn, Alaska in January 2005. Company created by the university to market its inventions; History of investors financing school inventions; Experiences of Auburn with invention licensing.

Focuses on a survey conducted by the Association of University Technology Managers revealing that U.S. colleges and universities in the 2003 fiscal year filed for more patents. Increase in licensing revenue collected for patents in 2003; Sources of licensing revenue; Educational institutions in the U.S. known to be successful in patenting and licensing; Deals that resulted to a substantial increase in royalty income in 2003.

Presents five university projects that received the most earmarked U.S. federal funds from 1990 to 2002. Information on the project of the Georgetown University, converting methanol into hydrogen fuel on board buses; Medical technology projects funded for the Loma Linda University; Details on the expansion project for the Hollings Cancer Center of the Medical University of South Carolina.

Reports on the increase in intellectual property donations made by different companies to various colleges in the United States. Donations of patent, equipment and expertise; Incompatibility of the patents and equipment donated with companies' corporate strategic plans. INSET: Donations of patented technology: A sampling..

Features Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. Patented Rutgers discoveries; Formation of the Office of Corporate Liaison and Technology Transfer; Patents; Rutger's success in commercializing research; Technology transfer; Importance of patenting; Rutger's agricultural research.

The article discusses U.S. universities and their ability to commercialize inventions as outlined in the report "AUTM U.S. Licensing Activity Survey: FY 2009 Summary," which was conducted by the U.S. Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). It examines revenue earned by universities through the sale of licensing rights for inventions, reports on patent filing and technology-transfer costs, and provides a chart regarding university licensing revenue for the 2009 fiscal year.

The article presents information on a July 2007 U.S. Congressional hearing on the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, which governs the patenting and licensing of college research discoveries funded by federal money. Testimony before the House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology indicates that no significant changes to the law are needed at this time, though industry representatives did submit complaints about colleges' money concerns and lengthy negotiations over licensing terms. Hewlett-Packard Company and the Dow Chemical Company are listed as among those testifying in the hearing.

This article reports on the U.S. National Science Foundation's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (Epscor) program, a federal effort designed to improve the ability of states with relatively little research activity to compete for federal research grants. The University of North Dakota, once small in the nation's network of scientific research, has both a vice president for research and a technology-transfer office. The state has doubled its research funds. Other middle and rural states are eligible to participate in Epscor.

Offers news briefs on U.S. college employees as of March 7, 2003. University invention licensing plans of James A. Severson, vice provost for intellectual property and technology transfer at the University of Washington at Seattle; Tenure granted to professor Robert David Johnson of Brooklyn College in New York City; Resignation of professors Shelley Fisher Fishkin and James S. Fishkin of the University of Texas at Austin.

This article presents findings of a report released in November 2005, according to which, U.S. colleges have created a record number of start-up companies based on the inventions of their professors and students in the 2004 fiscal year. According to the report, colleges have collected more than $1-billion in revenues from licenses on a host of new drugs, agricultural products, high-tech components, and other breakthrough technologies. The number of new start-ups was just one indicator of the growing pace of commercialization activity on American campuses described in the report, based on an annual survey by the Association of University Technology Managers. The 164 institutions in the survey filed more applications for U.S. patents than ever before, and they executed more deals for licenses and options on licenses, which is 4,087, than in any previous year. As in previous years, royalties on drug sales were the major source of revenues.

Reports on the practice by college officials of withholding information about annual royalties that their institutions and inventors make from patents as of May 2002. Court rulings that change how universities define when they will claim rights to a faculty member's invention; Recommendations on how universities can prevent intellectual property issues; Various comments on the matter.

Investigates the dispute between the United States Veterans Affairs Department and universities over rights to inventions of researchers. Universities that oppose the agreement proposed by the federal agency; Criticisms on the stance of the federal agency on intellectual property; Frustration of university officials with the proposed equal share of profits.

Statistics on compensation at U.S. college and universities are presented on several topics including salaries for professors by institutional type, employees by gender and racial category, and number of faculty members by type of university or college.

The article discusses proposals for the future of U.S. research universities. Topics include the 1960 California Master Plan for Higher Education in relation to California state university system president Clark Kerr, the book "Designing the New American University," by Michael M. Crow and William B. Dabars in relation to Arizona State University (ASU), and the relation of university research to mass education through public universities.

Reports on the methods by which Michigan State University has raised millions of dollars by development, patent, and marketing of two cancer drugs. Exact earnings of the university in royalties on sales of cisplatin and carboplatin; Details of how the drugs work; How Michigan State reached its deal with Bristol-Myers and Research Corporation Technology (RCT); Why the university eventually sued RCT. INSET: Several Universities Have High Hopes for Their Drug Patents.

Debates whether or not technology policy actually leads to the creation or elimination of jobs in the United States. US National Science Foundation's support of research partnerships; Proposal for government to redirect its technology policy to focus on workers' needs; University officials' defense of federally supported partnerships with industry. INSET: Federal programs promoting technology transfer..

Reports on leading American research universities' royalty incomes generated from inventions in the fiscal year 1993. Association of University Technology Managers's survey as source of data; Maturation of the technology-transfer process; Increase in patents granted and licenses executed; University of California system as the highest royalty income and patents earner; Stanford University as the second placer.

Reports on the failure of Congress to pass several bills concerning the academe. Health care; Medical scholarships; Black-college facilities; Arts and humanities; National Science Foundation; Technology transfer.

Outlines the new for-profit company that University of California President Jack W. Peltason has proposed that could push more university inventions into production and bolster the state's economy. Corporation would have two parts: gap in university technology transfer and providing seed money; Funding; Providing legal and financial services for university inventors; Difficulties in administration; Comments.

Reports on the findings of a study stating that U.S. may be subsidizing Japan's scientific progress as Japanese interests buy access to high-technology research programs at U.S. universities. Technology transfer at a cost to American taxpayers; American institutions receiving money from Japanese sources; Projects financed by Japanese sources at U.S. colleges; Policies on foreign sponsorship.

Focuses on major research universities' reports claiming big increases in royalty revenues from patented discoveries in the U.S. Royalty income at research universities; Reflection of the growing activity among universities in patenting and licensing their professors inventions; Significance of the efforts to gather data on technology-transfer activity at major research universities.

Reports on the ethical problems associated with the growing ties between universities and businesses in the U.S. Technology-transfer and licensing arrangements between colleges and corporations; Compromises made in the development of relationship between business and higher education; Definition of the ethical responsibilities of professors.

The article reports that the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) is considering revising its ethical policy of refusing to deal with companies that buy patent rights as a litigation strategy. According to AUTM President Sean P. Flanigan, financial pressures are the main motivation for reviewing the policy, which has received increased attention after schools such as Duke University and the California Institute of Technology began a partnership with patent aggregator Intellectual Ventures.