Economic Impact of UC Startups Following the Passage of the Bayh-Dole Act

Background: Following the passage of the Patent and Trademark Law Amendments Act of 1980, commonly known as the Bayh-Dole Act, the University of California began actively patenting and managing inventions made in the course of federally funded research.  Since 1980, UC has seen a steady increase in the number of disclosed inventions, U.S. patented technologies, active licenses and number of startup companies formed based on UC assigned inventions. As defined by the University of California, a UC startup is a legally organized or incorporated company whose formation depended on the acquisition of rights to UC’s interest in at least one disclosed UC technology, where (a) the company first acquired such rights during the fiscal year under one or more licenses, options, or letters of intent (from UC or from an interinstitutional agreement partner managing a co-owned technology) or under an agreement with a licensee (such as an investment or holding company); (b) the company was founded to develop products and services based on the disclosed UC technology(ies); and (c) upon its formation, the company operated independently of any pre-existing company. Data: Data from the UCOP’s Patent Tracking System (PTS) database, Startup Company database, and publicly accessible state and federal records, a census of UC startups was conducted for startups formed since 2000, with a sampling of startups formed between the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act and 2000. This data is then analyzed for direct and indirect impacts on the regional, state, and local economy and impact of the recent economic recession.