Sustaining and disruptive categorisation of university-licensed technologies: the impact on licensee and university technology revenue stream

In this paper, we propose a conceptual framework which considers how the categorisation of a technology as sustaining or disruptive by the university technology management office during screening may impact the licensee, number of expected years until success, and potential net income to the university. We test this framework on 135 patented or copyrighted technologies assigned to the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Initial results indicate that sustaining technologies are most likely licensed to market leaders and disruptive technologies had equal likelihood of being licensed to either a market leader or a start-up.