National Survey of Research Commercialisation Report Released. (August 31, 2007)

    The commercialisation of research undertaken by Australia’s universities and publicly funded institutions is the subject of a report released today by the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Julie Bishop.

Overall it gives a positive account of increased commercialisation by the universities. What it doesn't assess is the overall effect of the increased emphasis on direct profit making on learning, fundamental research, and providing the nation with its next generation of teachers and boffins.

Perhaps a new Labor government might care --- perhaps.

The 171 page report utilises 59 tables and 18 graphics to summarise the data it has collected from 70 institutions.

Its introduction states:

The National Survey of Research Commercialisation (NSRC) collects data and information on commercialisation activity in Australian publicly funded research institutions including the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), other publicly funded research institutions, universities, and medical research institutes (MRIs). The survey was first conducted for the year 2000¹, and again for 2001 and 2002².

The NSRC is not intended to capture all the publicly funded research commercialisation activity in Australia. Rather it provides insights into the major areas of activity as reported by the institutions performing the majority of work in this area. Quantitative information on commercialisation performance is provided in relation to a number of specific indicators, and qualitative information in the form of commercialisation case studies (see separate volume).

The NSRC was originally based only on the United States Association of University Technology Managers licensing survey. In accordance with the recommendations of the Coordination Committee on Science and Technology (CCST) Working Group on Metrics of Commercialisation report³, the NSRC for 2003 and 2004:

• adopted a broader definition of ‘research commercialisation’ that included research contracts and consultancies and skills development and transfer

• maintained pre-existing core indicators, including resources for commercialisation, intellectual property activity and start-up company activity

• wherever possible, drew upon reliable third party data to reduce respondent burden and enhance data comparability, including inclusion of data for the Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) from the CRCs management data questionnaire (MDQ) for 2003 to 2004 and 2004 to 2005.

And its "key findings" are given as:

Overall, the trend data now available shows an increase in research commercialisation activity and outcomes flowing from Australia’s universities, publicly funded research institutions and medical research institutes. This activity creates significant income for the institutions, however the greatest benefits are realised through the productive application of publicly funded research in the broader economy and community. The effective management of publicly funded intellectual property (IP) is important not only to generate institutional income but as part of the commitment by institutions to collaborations with industry partners.

In 2004 institutions reported income from licenses, options and assignments (LOAs) of over $59 million, contracts and consultancies with end-users worth almost $900 million, and equity holdings valued at almost $185 million (see table 1 and section 5). Although determining the level of sales resulting from licensed technologies is difficult, institutions estimated these returns were in the order of $3 billion in 2003 and $4 billion in 2004 (see section 5). In 2004 the cost to institutions of conducting research commercialisation activities, including staffing and associated administration costs, was almost $70 million (see table 1 and section 5).

Most commercialisation indicators have increased over the period 2000 to 2004. Across all institutions the total number of:

• invention disclosures increased by 77%;

• patents and plant breeder rights issued worldwide increased by 79%;

• LOAs yielding income per year increased by 36%;

• start-up companies operational at the end of each year nearly tripled, with the value of institutional equity in start ups increasing by 41%; and

• commercialisation staff increased by 74%.

Two exceptions were the number of LOAs executed and the number of startup companies formed, both of which have decreased. These results indicate that institutions are becoming increasingly strategic in their approach to these activities as the number of LOAs yielding income and the number of start-ups still operational increased over the same period. Adjusted gross income from LOAs fell significantly, however the figures are influenced by a single large transaction in 2000 (see table 2 and section 5).

A large proportion of IP and LOA activity is carried out by a relatively small number of institutions, which include the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and a selection of universities. These same institutions account for much of the income generation collected in this survey (see section 5).
 

In contrast the majority of institutions are active in both research contracts and consultancies and commercialisation skills development and transfer activities, suggesting these broader activities are significant mechanisms for knowledge transfer. The large number of contract and consultancy agreements entered into (around 14,000 per year in 2003 and 2004) indicates a high level of connectedness between research institutions and the broader innovation system. Around a third of these agreements represented ‘repeat business’ for institutions (see table 1 and section 5).

International Comparisons

Comparisons to the United States (US), Canada and the United Kingdom (UK), after adjusting for research expenditure and purchasing power parity, found that Australian institutions generally:

• devote more human resources to commercialisation activities;

• execute more LOAs than the UK although fewer than the US and Canada;

• generate more LOA income than the UK, around the same as Canada, and less than the US; and

• create more new start-up companies than the US although less than Canada and the UK (see table 3 and section 6).

Cooperative Research Centres

Cooperative Research Centres remain important contributors to research commercialisation and knowledge transfer activities maintaining over 2,100 Australian and overseas patents and generating income of almost $10 million from LOAs in 2004-05 (see section 7).