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.