- On average, universities only capture 16% of the revenue they help to create through ground-breaking discoveries.
- A pair of newly published research papers explore the commercialization drivers of academic science.
- Universities with policies and resources devoted to commercialization efforts are more successful at translating research for commercial outcomes.
- Wharton professor David Hsu advises universities how to be resourceful and achieve the recognition they deserve for their work.
A pair of newly published research papers co-authored by Wharton management professor David H. Hsu benchmark and explore commercialization drivers of academic science. The papers find that university research has produced pathbreaking innovations across many disciplines, many of which have been commercialized successfully. Yet, on average, universities capture 16% of the value they help create through licensing revenues or equity stakes in the startups their research spawns. Furthermore, some researchers and universities are much better able to commercialize their discoveries compared to others, even holding constant the discovery itself.
The first research paper, which Hsu wrote with Po-Hsuan Hsu, Tong Zhou and Arvids A. Ziedonis, is titled “Benchmarking U.S. University Patent Value and Commercialization Efforts: A New Approach” and was published this month in Research Policy. The second paper, “Revisiting the Entrepreneurial Commercialization of Academic Science: Evidence from ‘Twin’ Discoveries,” co-authored with Matt Marx, is forthcoming in Management Science.
Source: How could universities more effectively commercialize their work? | World Economic Forum
