Publications, patents, and the market for university inventions

This paper examines factors that influence the likelihood of a university invention being licensed. Inventors’ prior academic output is positively correlated with the likelihood that their new technologies will be licensed, but is uncorrelated with the payments specified by the license contract or the returns of the technology to the university. This suggests that inventors’ academic status attracts the attention of potential licensees, but does not necessarily change their inferences about the quality of technologies for sale. Additionally, patent grants are associated with significant increases in the rate at which technologies are licensed and are most important for inexperienced inventors.