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SPRING/SUMMER 1999 ARCHIVE Clemson Recognized as Leader in Orthopaedic Bioengineering Clemson University Mathematics: The Next National Champion? Clemson University, Southeast Leader in Invention Income Where the Rubber Meets the Roador Off-Road Clemson Students Win NSF Awards Professor Receives National Math Award Thomas Green Clemson Academy Welcomes Three New Members Dow Chemical Pledges More Than Half-Million Dollars to Film-Related Research Catfish: Improving Environment and Economy ACES Reunion and BBQ is Coming!  |
Clemson University, Southeast Leader in Invention Income Clemson University ranked third in the Southeast in the amount of money generated from patents and inventions in fiscal year 1997, according to a recent study of 132 U.S. universities. The $4.6 million generated by Clemson in fiscal year 1997 placed the university 21st in the nation, according to the study by the Association of University Technology Managers, a Norwalk, Conn., nonprofit group. In the entire Southeast, only Florida State University and the University of Florida boasted higher royalties than Clemson. In contrast, six other Southeast schools, including Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, Auburn and the University of South Carolina, each generated less than $1 million of income from licenses and royalties. Number one in the survey was the University of California system, followed by Stanford University and Columbia University. "This level of intellectual reinvestment helps Clemson flourish and underscores its emergence as a national-caliber research university," said Edward W. Page, director of Clemson's Office of Technology Transfer. "We're not only developing leading-edge technologies but are becoming increasingly successful at marketing them. Our job is not over when the research is complete -- it's only beginning," he said. Roughly 40 percent of Clemson's royalties are derived from a software program used to operate automated-tape data storage and retrieval systems. The remainder of the balance comes from a patented technique that improves adhesion between bone and hip or knee implants. Future money-makers may include an integrated circuit-system technology recently sold to a Silicon Valley company and an advanced filtering technology that will be used by an international corporation in fruit-juice processing machines. Clemson research in plant biotechnology, packaging science and veterinary pharmaceuticals may also hold potential, Page said. "The benefit to South Carolina is enormous," said Page. "Our students have access to cutting-edge research and the job opportunities that such experiences will someday bring. And state industries have access to an enormous wealth of intellectual capital that may help their own businesses and enrich the overall economic climate by attracting high-tech industries." Taxpayers profit as well. For example, software royalties paid for two high-performance computers that put Clemson in the same computing league as the nation's major research universities. Under Clemson's system, the royalties are divided among the inventors, the academic departments involved and an endowment that supports the efforts behind getting research results into the commercial marketplace. "Patents encourage manufacturers by protecting their market for commercialization, while at the same time making the technology public information so that it can be improved upon," Page said. "Without patent protection, companies wouldn't be willing to invest in new technologies -- there would be no pay-off for them," he said. "Even in cases where research begins as contract work for industry, it's necessary for money to come back to Clemson in the form of royalties or licensing fees," said Stephen R. Chapman, senior contract adviser for sponsored programs at Clemson. "Contract support allows us to generate the research, our 'productive offspring,' if you will," Chapman said. "But the royalties pay for the continued growth and nourishment of the parent university. And if we're not growing, we're falling behind. There is no such thing as a state of equilibrium." |
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