On Tuesday, the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) announced the Top 100 Worldwide Universities Granted U.S. Utility Patents in 2013. The NAI and IPO compiled the list by calculating the number of utility patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office which identify a university as the first assignee on the printed patent.
Once again, the University of California tops the list, having increased its new patent issuances this year to 399. That number represents a nearly 12% increase compared to the tally of 357 issued patents in 2012. The next closest university in this year's list, MIT, obtained 281 issued patents.
The University of California's success should come as no surprise, since its Technology Transfer office boasts "an active patenting and patent licensing program for over 40 years."
Other California universities also showed off their patent prowess in 2013. The California Institute of Technology ranked 7th on the list with 147 patents. The University of Southern California rounded out the top 20 with 82 patents. California's innovative influence may even have given Philadelphia-based Drexel University, which launched a graduate studies campus in Sacramento in 2009, a bump. Drexel landed in the 68th spot with 29 patents this year.
It is no secret or surprise that universities have been amassing more patents in recent years, especially following the 1980 enactment of the Bayh-Dole Act allowing universities to retain patent rights for inventions resulting from federally funded research. By the look of things, universities have no plans to slow down.
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