Officials at IU Research and Technology Corp., which protects, markets and licenses intellectual property developed at IU so it can be commercialized, have reported a year-over-year 72-percent increase in licensing agreements, according to an IU press release.
From July 1, 2015, to June 30, IURTC completed 43 licensing agreements. There were 25 licenses in the previous fiscal year.
IURTC is a nonprofit corporation tasked with the protecting and commercializing of technology emanating from innovations by IU researchers. Since 1997, IU research has generated more than 2,700 inventions resulting in more 3,900 global patent applications being filed by IURTC.
These discoveries have generated $133 million in licensing and royalty income, including $111 million in funding for IU departments, labs and inventors, according to a press release.
Marie Kerbeshian, vice president of technology commercialization, said the licensing agreements show IU innovations are highly valued, according to a press release.
“Companies develop Indiana University innovations into products and processes that can improve people’s lives around the world,” Kerbeshian said in a press release. “Additionally, revenue and royalties are returned to IU researchers, laboratories, schools and colleges. Today’s revenue can strengthen the ability of IU researchers to discover tomorrow’s innovations.”
The 43 licenses cover 67 technologies discovered and developed at University Information Technology Services, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Optometry and the School of Informatics in Bloomington, as well as the School of Informatics, School of Engineering and Technology, School of Science, School of Dentistry and School of Medicine at IUPUI, according to a press release.
Facts about the licensing agreements includes the 12 licenses that were signed with startups based on IU intellectual property. Six of the licenses were signed with startups that currently are part of IURTC’s Spin Up program, which helps IU researchers establish their own companies, according to a press release.
There are 37 licenses were signed with companies in the United States: 14 with Indiana companies, nine with California companies, four with Colorado companies and two apiece with Massachusetts and Wisconsin companies.
Other licenses were signed with companies in Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Washington, according to a press release.
Six licenses were signed with international companies, including two in the United Kingdom and one apiece in Belgium, Canada, South Africa and Taiwan, according to a press release.
There are 24 companies that signed licenses have 500 or more employees and 19 companies that signed licenses have 500 or fewer employees, according to a press release.
Kerbeshian said commercializing IU discoveries takes several steps.
“Before IURTC technology managers can market the work to companies, Indiana University researchers must disclose it to us,” Kerbeshian said in a press release. “We review the work and determine how best to protect it. But without IU inventors taking the first steps to disclose their work, there would be no licensing agreements, no products to improve people’s lives and no revenue returned to Indiana University.”
