Il rapporto tra università e imprese negli Stati Uniti: trasferimento tecnologico e diritti di proprietà intellettuale

University-Industry collaboration in the United States: technology transfer and intellectual property rights
University-industry research collaboration and technology transfer, especially the licensing by U.S. universities of patented inventions, is considered by many authors as a central «cause» of U.S. economic resurgence in the 1990’s. Such development are, in turn, attributed to changes in U.S. policy during the 1980’s, particularly the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980. This paper argues that the focus on patenting and licensing as the essential ingredient in university-industry collaboration and knowledge transfer may be exaggerated. It is a fallacy to associate the entrepreneurial activities of universities exclusively with patenting and licensing. The emphasis on the Bayh-Dole Act also seems somewhat misplaced, ignoring the long history, extending at the earliest decade of the 20th century, of collaboration between university and industry.