Autm Licensing Survey: Fy 2003 Survey Summary

This annual survey by The Association ofUniversity Technology Managers is a summary of technology licensing and related performance information for United States and Canadian academic and non profit institutions, and a few patent management and investment firms, for the fiscalyear 2003. Quantitative information from AUTM members using the AUTM Licensing Survey instrument is presented. In a change from previous reports, survey results arepresented separately for the 198 United States and 37 Canadian universities,hospitals, institutes and technology investment firms responding. Presenting two country reports highlights the distinct conditions, challenges, and opportunities of the two countries. In each country report,results are summarized following the order of the technology transfer process: resources devoted to technology transfer, research support, invention disclosures, patent applications, issued patents, licensing information, and startup companies. Expanded in this year's report is discussion of the ultimate goal ofacademic and nonprofit technology transfer; included are summaries of 25 technology transfer success stories in the United States (16) and Canada (9),most of which are health-care related. The results indicate the long-termnature of technology transfer and short-term impacts of economic conditions. Academic technology transfer continues adapting to difficult early-stagefinancial market conditions occurring since the stock market collapse of early2000. Rate of spinout creation declined and companies went out of business at anhistorically high rate. But overall technology transfer continues toadvance. The highlighting of Canada shows how differently technology transfer is practiced there; Canadian performance measure for 2003 out pacedthose in the United States. Appendices include survey methodology, definitions, the survey form, and survey totals for U.S. and Canadian institutions. (JSD/TNM)