We Must Help Universities Invest in Good Technology

We need to help universities invest in good ideas so these promising new forms of technology can enter the marketplace and help small businesses grow.

Part of a Series

Idea of the Day

Idea of the Day

Universities are not only on the front lines of scientific and technological discovery but also at times hotbeds of entrepreneurship. In 2010 alone 651 new startup companies formed around the commercialization of university-licensed technology, and more than 3,600 such small businesses founded in previous years continue to operate.

But many promising patents remain stuck in university labs, inaccessible to the market. The result: Despite the roughly $50 billion of federal dollars spent annually on university research, too few new technologies make it through the pipeline from paper, to patent, to product.

There are many structural and cultural reasons why many universities do not maximize the potential of their small-business technology spinoffs. A key one is that the federal funding on which much university research depends does not encourage universities to prioritize the commercialization of the resulting technology.

For more on this topic, please see:

Big Ideas for Small Business: Getting Good Technology out of the Lab and into the Marketplace by Ed Paisley and Sean Pool

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