National Survey of Research Commercialisation - Australian ...

NATIONAL SURVEY OF RESEARCH COMMERCIALISATION
Patents (encompassing patents and plant-breeder rights)
Respondent institutions filed 834 patent applications in Australia and the USA in Year
2000 — these included 469 new applications in Australia and 102 new applications in
the USA.
In total, 498 patents worldwide were issued to respondent institutions in Year
2000 — these included 143 Australian patents and 115 US patents.
In total, 548 inventions were disclosed to respondent institutions in Year 2000 — for
assessment of their patenting and commercial potential.
Licences (encompassing licences, options and assignments)
Respondent institutions executed a total of 417 licences in Year 2000.
Of these, 18% were with start-up companies, 19% were with small companies, 12%
were with medium-size companies and 51% were with large companies.
Of the licences executed with start-up companies in Year 2000, 86% were exclusive
and 14% were non-exclusive.
Of the licences executed with small companies in Year 2000, 48% were exclusive and
52% were non-exclusive.
Of the licences executed with medium-size companies in Year 2000, 54% were
exclusive and 46% were non-exclusive.
Of the licences executed with large companies in Year 2000, 29% were exclusive and
71% were non-exclusive.
A significant proportion of licensing activity was focused on small companies — 47% of
medical research institute licences, 41% of university licences and 27% of CSIRO licences
were executed to start-up or small companies.
A very high proportion of licences executed to start-up companies were exclusive. This
suggests that the ability to grant exclusive licences is important to company start-up
activity, a key contribution to the overall economic impact of licensing by universities,
medical research institutes and CSIRO.
Licence Income
A total of 491 licences yielded income to respondent institutions in Year 2000.
Respondent institutions’ adjusted gross income from licences was $99 million in Year
2000.
There appears to be a positive relationship between an institution’s income from licences
and the length of its experience in managing commercial licensing activities:
Four of the five licensing programs of respondent institutions that yielded income of
more than $3 million in Year 2000 had been in operation for ten or more years.
Of the licensing programs of respondent institutions that yielded income of less than
$1 million in Year 2000, 68% had been in operation for less than ten years.
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