2010 was a bit of a bounce-back year for U.S. technology transfer programs, as licensing income inched up 3 percent to $2.4 billion, compared with the prior year.
Still, that level of licensing income was a far cry from the halcyon days of 2008, when technology transfer programs reported $3.4 billion in licensing income, according to the latest annual survey from the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). 2010′s tally represented a 30 percent drop from 2008.
AUTM blamed the weakness of the last two years on a lack of large one-time payments such as litigation settlements, which helped boost numbers in previous years.
Northwestern University again took the top spot, barely edging out New York University, last year’s No. 3.
The survey had 183 respondents — 155 universities, 27 hospitals and research institutions, and one third-party patent management and investment firm. (Note that the following list includes only universities.)
Here are the top 20 technology transfer programs among universities included in the AUTM survey, ranked by 2010 licensing income:
1. Northwestern University, $180 million
2. New York University, $178 million
3. Columbia University, $147 million
4. University of California System, $104 million
5. Wake Forest University, $86 million
6. University of Minnesota, $84 million
7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $69 million
8. University of Washington/Washington Research Foundation, $69 million
9. Stanford University, $65 million
10. University of Wisconsin-Madison/Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, $54 million
11. California Institute Of Technology, $52 million
12. University of Rochester, $42 million
13. University of Massachusetts, $40 million
14. University of Michigan, $40 million
15. University of Texas System, $38 million
16. University of Utah, $38 million
17. University of Florida, $29 million
18. University of Iowa Research Foundation, $27 million
19. Duke University, $26 million
20. University of South Florida, $17 million
Interesting article. Suggest thinking about whether metrics for "best-in-class" performance have improved overall