A survey of 191 US universities, hospitals and research institutions, and one third-party technology investment firm showed gains in academic licensing and startup activity in 2014. These gains were despite a 5% drop in federal research funding to $37.9 billion. Respondents’ research expenditures overall fell 3.6% to $62.8 billion, but spending funded by industry rose 1% to $4.61 billion. Nearly 10,000 commercially available products have come from academic labs. In 2014, 965 new commercial products licensed from university technology were created, a 34.2% increase. Net product sales totaled $28 billion, growing 27.2%. A record 6,363 patents were issued in 2014, increasing 11.3%. Of 4,688 operational startups at the end of 2014, an increase of 11.4%, 914 were formed that year, a rise of 12%. Technology transfers also made gains, with 5,435 licenses and 1,461 options executed, up 4.5% and 7.7%, respectively. Licenses executed including equity acquired by the research institution totaled 549, an increase of 17%.

Source: Association of University Technology Managers