ACCT aims to broaden metrics First Canadian AUTM survey offers a mixed picture of university tech transfer

The US-based Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) has released its first report devoted exclusively to Canadian technology transfer and commercialization in the higher education sector. The survey captures a variety of measures designed to quantify how well Canadian universities are performing and the results are mixed.

It shows that, while royalties, new product introductions and invention disclosures are increasing, licence income and starts-up emanating from Canadian universities and affiliated research hospitals are down year-over-year between 2003 and 2004. A second report collecting 2005 data is now in the field and is expected this fall.

The 2004 report achieved a 44.7% response rate with just 34 of 76 institutions reporting. Although that's down from 38 institutions and a 50% response rate in 2003, the institutions that did report account for at least 90% of the research dollars flowing to all institutions.

"Increasing new invention disclosures, patent filings and licences mean we are increasing productivity in this area," says Dr Stuart Howe, AUTM's VP for Canada and director of research business development at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. "The number of spin-offs confirms what we have known. It's getting harder to raise money for start-ups as venture capital is moving to more developed technologies."

The report found that just 15% of start-ups actually received venture capital (VC) in 2004, leaving the other 85% to boot-strap operations through friends, angels and credit cards. That year saw just 45 start-ups formed, compared to 58 in 2003, a drop of 22.4% (see chart). According to Dr Angus Livingston, managing director of the Univ of British Columbia's university-industry liaison office, the change in VC investment patterns and subsequent decline in start-ups is largely attributable to the collapse of the dot com and telecom booms. He points to UBC's experience, which spun off 13 companies in 2001 but has managed just two a year in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

"VCs abandoned companies that had a small chance of moving forward. VC is now back in again but they typically won't fund before Phase I trials," says Livingston. "After the bust, companies spin-off rules were re-written although recently there has been some rebound. We're now trying to move companies forward within universities."

Howe adds that the drop in company formation stemming from university technology is also due to what he terms a "reality gap between what scientists are expecting and what VC is expecting. There's a big gap in the understanding of each other".

BEYOND AUTM TO ACCT

Howe and Livingston say that, while the AUTM data are valuable, the metrics used to gauge performance are activity-based and do little to measure impact. The recent release of AUTM's Better World Report showcasing 25 major success stories helps to illustrate the impact of tech transfer. But the absence of concrete metrics - especially for the Canadian environment - is viewed as a significant barrier stimulating greater understanding and appreciation of licencing and spin-offs.

Last year, Howe and Livingston helped to found the Alliance for Commercialization of Canadian Technology (ACCT), a national network of networks comprising four regional commercialization networks (see chart). The organization hopes to provide a national voice at the policy level while improving the ways in which tech transfer is measured.

"Canadian didn't feel well served by AUTM as it was viewed as too US focused," says Livingston. "We need to better measure output and impact and the current metrics reflected in that AUTM data only tell a small portion of the story"

For example, UBC may have spun off just two firms last year, but there were 1,100 projects underway at the university involving industry - a significant element of university-industry collaboration not captured in any existing metrics. Livingston says the savings to industry through these collaboration projects are significant but currently undocumented.

To help broaden the measurement tools available to the Canadian tech transfer community, ACCT is holding a metrics workshop in Toronto on June 12-13. The invitation-only event will bring together the practitioners of metrics from government and academia.

"We want to discuss what works and determine what are good measures of impact," says Howe. "Technology transfer is an abstract idea for a lot of people. We need to start telling stories and giving examples to try and impact the public policy arena."

"We hope to develop ammunition to show government that a bigger ACCT is needed and help to get consensus of institutions and unity of purpose," adds Livingston.

In addition to serving post-secondary institutions, ACCT is forging ties with federal laboratories through the Federal Partners in Technology Transfer (FPTT) program. For its second annual conference this November, the ACCT will include a significant component devoted to federal labs. Livingston says developing closer links to FPTT could be the first step to a single unified organization.

"It could evolve into a single technology transfer organization for the country."

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