Detroit News: Universities ramp up research, pump out inventions

The University of Michigan recently reported 444 inventions in fiscal year 2017, more than last year’s 428, and the fifth straight year of 400-plus inventions from its faculty. At Michigan State University, the number of inventions was just under 200 last year, while Wayne State University has averaged 70 inventions annually over the past three years. Since 1980, U.S. universities have spun off nearly 5,000 startup companies, according to the Association of University Technology Managers. The economic impact of university and nonprofit patent licensing was $518 billion from 1996 to 2013, creating 3.8 million jobs during that period. “The universities are a wellspring of ideas and inventions and they are producing more disclosures, more inventions,” said Mason. “They are great feeder systems for the state’s entrepreneurial economy.”

Detroit News

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