University IP income drops in 2004

Income from intellectual property (IP) generated by Canadian universities and hospitals declined 7.7% in 2004, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. Income from IP commercialization was $51.2 million, down from $55.5 million in 2003.

The drop comes just months after StatsCan reported a modest increase in IP revenue between 2001 and 2003 (R$, November 7/05). The preliminary results are from the latest StatsCan survey, which will be published as a working paper later this year.

The decline in IP revenue translated into less money distributed to inventors or co-inventors, from $19.4 million in 2003 to $18.2 million in 2004. IP income distributed to the administration or internal administrative units also fell 3% to $21.5 million.

The preliminary data also show that the number of start-ups provided space at the institution declined by 16 to 62.

The survey also indicates, however, that there is an increasing number of inventions in the pipeline that may translate into higher IP revenue in the future. Invention disclosures increased 19% to 1,353, while inventions that were patented or protected jumped 23% to 647. Also up significantly were the number of new licences and options (491/+23%), boosting the total active licences and options to 2,038 (+16%). The remaining IP income ($5 million) went to other parties.

The StatsCan survey went to 88 universities and 47 hospitals. At the time of the preliminary release, 81% of universities had responded, as had 60% of hospitals. The final numbers are not expected to change greatly as the respondents included nearly all of the country's medium and large institutions.

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