Skip to main content
Log in

To Patent or Not: Faculty Decisions and Institutional Success at Technology Transfer

  • Published:
The Journal of Technology Transfer Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We draw on qualitative data derived from field work on two university campuses to develop an explanation for widely disparate rates of new invention disclosure. We argue that faculty decisions to disclose are shaped by their perceptions of the benefits of patent protection. These incentives to disclose are magnified or minimized by the perceived costs of interacting with technology transfer offices and licensing professionals. Finally, faculty considerations of the costs and benefits of disclosure are colored by institutional environments that are supportive or oppositional to the simultaneous pursuit of academic and commercial endeavors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Association of University Technology Managers, Inc., 1998, AUTM Licensing Survey, Fiscal Year.

  • Audretsch, D.B. and P.E. Stephan, 1996, 'Company- Scientist Locational Links: The Case of Biotechnology', American Economic Rveiew 86 2, 641–652.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumenthal, D., E.G. Campbell, N. Causino, and K.S. Louis, 1996, 'Participation of life- science faculty in research relationships with industry', New England Journal of Medicine 335 23, 1734–1739.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, M. and F. Richard, 1994, 'The Geographic Sources of Innovation: Technological Infrastructure and Product Innovation in the United States', Annals of the Association of American Geographers 84 2, 210–229.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, R., 1993, National innovation systems: a comparative analysis, New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Owen- Smith, J., forthcoming, 'New Arenas for University Competition: Stratification in Academic Patenting', in Jennifer Croissant ed., University Industry Research Relations, New York: SUNY Press.

  • Owen- Smith, J., 2000, Public Science, Private Science: The Causes and Consequences of Patenting by Research One Unirsities. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Arizona.

  • Powell, W.W. and J. Owen- Smith, 1998, 'Universities and the market for intellectual property in the life sciences', Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 17 2, 253–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell, W.W., 1998, 'Learning from collaboration: Knowledge and networks in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries', California Management Review 40 3, 228–263.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saxenian, A., 1994, Regional adäntage: culture and competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegel, D., D. Waldman, and A. Link, 1999, 'Assessing the Impact of Organizational Practices on the Productivity of University Technology Transfer Offices: an Exploratory Study', NBER Working paper W7256.

  • Siegel, D., D. Waldman, L. Atwater, and A. Link, 2000, 'Transferring Scientific Knowledge from Academicians to Practitioners: Qualitative Evidence from the Commercialization of University Technology Transfer Offices', unpublished manuscript.

  • Stern, S., 1999, 'Do Scientists Pay to be Scientists?' NBER Working paper a7410.

  • Zucker, L.G. and M.R. Darby, 1996, 'Star Scientists and Institutional Transformation: Patterns of Invention and Innovation in the Formation of the U.S. Biotechnology Industry', Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 93 23, 709–716.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zucker, L.G., M.R. Darby, and M.B. Brewer, 1998, 'Intellectual Human Capital and the Birth of U.S. Biotechnology Enterprises', American Economic Review 88 1, 290–306.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Owen-Smith, J., Powell, W.W. To Patent or Not: Faculty Decisions and Institutional Success at Technology Transfer. The Journal of Technology Transfer 26, 99–114 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007892413701

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007892413701

Keywords

Navigation