When you think of technology transfer programs from academia to industry, what two leading universities come to mind? MIT and Cal Tech. Common wisdom for the past two decades held that these two schools were at the top of the list by the venture capital and angel investment organizations.

Not anymore! Move over Cal Tech. You are no longer in the top two. Can you guess who has muscled into the number two spot?

The University of California system.
UC you rock!

The Milken Institute last week released an in-depth examination of the world’s leading universities for biotechnology research and technology transfer, meaning the ability of those universities to turn their intellectual property into commercial applications.

This examination of the commercialization of university research reveals that the U.S. dominates the top rankings on many key measures, including published research, patents issued and licensing income.

The study, Mind to Market: A Global Analysis of University Biotechnology Transfer and Commercialization, includes the Milken Institute University Technology Transfer and Commercialization Index, which ranks U.S. and Canadian universities at their ability to take world-class research and turn it into licensing income and business startups. The top five are:

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2. University of California system
3. California Institute of Technology
4. Stanford University
5. University of Florida

What's up with University of Florida? Now this begs another post!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive