The Decline of University Patenting and the End of the Bayh-Dole Effect

TL;DR

This paper examines the decline in university patenting since the 2000s, attributing it to changes in institutional incentives and the influence of university rankings on research commercialization strategies.

Contribution

It challenges the assumption that university patenting continues to grow, highlighting the impact of ranking systems on university innovation behaviors.

Findings

University patenting has declined in advanced economies since the 2000s.

Patents and spin-offs are not included in university rankings.

Universities are more responsive to environmental changes affecting research commercialization.

Abstract

University patenting has been heralded as a symbol of changing relations between universities and their social environments. The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 in the USA was eagerly promoted by the OECD as a recipe for the commercialization of university research, and the law was imitated by a number of national governments. However, since the 2000s university patenting in the most advanced economies has been on the decline both as a percentage and in absolute terms. We suggest that the institutional incentives for university patenting have disappeared with the new regime of university ranking. Patents and spin-offs are not counted in university rankings. In the new arrangements of university-industry-government relations, universities have become very responsive to changes in their relevant environments.