Despite being the largest research institution in the state, Ohio State didn’t bring in the most research licensing revenue last year.
OSU ranked third in research licensing revenue among Ohio colleges and Melanie Baker, marketing and communications manager for technology commercialization and knowledge transfer, said OSU generated nearly $2 million with patent reimbursements in 2011.
Ohio University ranked first in licensing revenue in 2011, bringing in $8.6 million, about $6 million more than OSU.
Licensing revenue is the money that faculty inventions make for the university. Baker said one of the main income-generating inventions for OSU is a pancreatic cancer diagnostic.
“The diagnostic is microRNA-based and detects early-stage pancreatic cancer,” Baker said in an email.
According to Ohio University’s Research Communications website, most of its revenue comes from a growth-hormone receptor antagonist discovered by John Kopchick, a senior scientist, and former graduate student Wen Chen. The hormone was made into a drug known as SOMAVERT, which is used to treat acromegaly, a hormone growth syndrome that can lead to gigantism and premature death in adults.
While these licensing numbers might be puzzling to some, it is important to note that the numbers are almost two years old. OSU is in fiscal year 2013, and Baker said the fiscal numbers for 2012 have not yet been released, which means OSU’s current ranking cannot be calculated at this time. Numbers from other schools are unknown as well.
However, the licensing revenue numbers have some people talking. Some assume OSU is leading the way in collegiate research, but these numbers have caused some students to re-evaluate their opinions of OSU’s overall research efforts.
Others however, think OSU is doing just fine.
“The psychology department does a good job of having participants for the psychology experiments,” said Monica Craigmile, a fourth-year in psychology and former research assistant. “Because everyone that does Psych 100 has to do a certain amount of hours of research. So that allows, at least for the psychology department, to have a good base of students.”
Moving forward, Baker said there are changes the Technology Commercialization and Knowledge Transfer office plans on making. During fiscal year 2012, one of the office’s main priorities is getting students involved. More than 300 students are taking part in technology commercialization events. The student commercialization board was also founded this year. It represents seven different colleges within the university, and the main goal is to “change the student experience.”
“We’re developing customized education initiatives that engage our colleges more in commercialization,” said Baker in the email. “We’re focused on creating a robust start-up culture with deep support programs from funding to prototyping … and creating new student programs that engage students in every aspect of the commercialization process to enhance their learning experience.”
This year more than 400 new OSU inventors have submitted their ideas to the department. The department also expects to see a 340 percent increase in new revenue for fiscal year 2012, according to a fiscal year 2012 Technology Commercialization and Knowledge Transfer document.
“Our primary goals have been to begin to build a culture of innovation, service, responsiveness, creativity and accountability at all levels throughout the campus,” said Baker in the email. “This sets the foundation for growth and high-impact change.”