In America, innovation often begins on college campuses. Think Google, Facebook and many other household names that started as ideas in dorm rooms. Yet, before 1980, America’s universities and research centers could never fully capitalize on their inventions.
For decades, the federal government had a firm grip on research and patents, creating rules and regulations that stifled innovation and ensured that any inventions discovered through federally funded research automatically became government property. Innovation withered, moonshot ideas collected dust and research breakthroughs remained inaccessible.
That all changed when Congress passed the Bayh-Dole Act, which allows universities, small businesses and nonprofits to retain ownership over their inventions. Formally called the Patent and Trademark Act Amendments of 1980, this small shift in policy has had monumental effects. The result was a surge in innovation and commercialization that transformed the landscape of American ingenuity and continues to this day.
Consider this: At the time of Bayh-Dole’s enactment, U.S. government agencies held 28,000 patents, yet only 5% of them were licensed commercially, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. To put those numbers into perspective, that means the federal government sat on more than 26,000 patents in 1980. Thanks to the act, universities are now in the driver’s seat when it comes to licensing patents. As the state’s premier networking and trade association for science and technology companies, we at the Arizona Technology Council support and champion the robust ecosystem of entrepreneurial spirit fostered by the legislation.
The act has fueled countless innovations for more than four decades, driving significant advancements across various fields. For example, touchscreen technology that is now ubiquitous across the world in smartphones and tablets was a direct result of federally funded research at the University of Delaware. Google, arguably one of the world’s most influential companies, got its start by licensing technology owned by Stanford University. Arizona State University has also received nationwide recognition for its innovation, ranking in AUTM’s latest top 10 for startups, licensing agreements and invention disclosures. And The University of Arizona in 2022 ranked No. 30 among the top 100 worldwide universities granted U.S. utility patents, according to the National Academy of Inventors.
Katharine Ku, an expert on patent licensing and former executive director of Stanford University’s Office of Technology and Licensing, has hailed the act, saying “the law has supported nearly 6 million jobs and helped launch more than 13,000 startups.”
The evidence is clear. For example, according to AUTM (Association of University Technology Managers), the act has contributed $1.9 trillion in U.S. economic output and $1 trillion to U.S. GDP, as well as led to the issuing of more than 120,000 patents from academic technology transfers since 1996.
The Biden Administration is seeking to roll back these collaborative partnerships by reinterpreting the law, which President Joe Biden voted for in 1980 as a U.S. senator representing Delaware. Instead of upholding decades of precedent, the administration is attempting to impose government pricing controls by taking over patents derived from federally funded research.
Protecting the Bayh-Dole Act and its many positive achievements should be a top priority for policymakers in Washington. We cannot afford to go backward. If we do, who can blame entrepreneurs, researchers and the technology industry across Arizona and beyond if they become suspicious whether they have a trustworthy partner in the federal government when it comes to innovation.
Steven G. Zylstra is President & CEO of the Arizona Technology Council + SciTech Institute. Arizona Technology Council is a Publishing Partner of In Business Magazine.
