Emory Makes The Top 10 Nationally In Earnings From Commercialized Research

Emory University
Monday, 15 December 2003

Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) Survey Cites Emory's $29.6 Million In Earnings in Fiscal Year '02

Emory University was listed in the Top 10 among U.S. universities in this week's Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) annual survey of earnings from the commercialization of research inventions. Emory collected $29.6 million in the survey year -(fiscal 2002). Most of the licensing revenues came through three licensing arrangements for antiviral technology.

Also in FY02, Emory reported 28 new licenses and options executed, four new start-up companies, 88 new U.S. patent applications filed, and 25 U.S. patents issued. The top institution in the AUTM survey was Columbia University, with $155.7 million. In the #10 slot, Emory surpassed MIT, Harvard, Cal Tech, Johns Hopkins, Duke, and Vanderbilt. In 2001, Emory reported licensing revenues of approximately $3.6 million.

Emory's program in research commercialization only promises to gain strength with the recent appointment of Todd T. Sherer, PhD, as Director of Technology Transfer. Dr. Sherer was formerly director of Technology and Research Collaborations at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon, where he was responsible for a $1.8 million operating budget for intellectual property matters. Dr. Sherer received his bachelor's degree from Oregon State University in 1985 and his PhD from Washington State University in 1991 in pharmacology and toxicology. Before joining Oregon Health & Science University, he was associate director of the Office of Intellectual Property Administration at Washington State University, then director of the Office of Technology Transfer at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon.

The goal of Emory's technology transfer program is to bring the results of biomedical research more rapidly to patients by bringing discoveries to the marketplace, as well as to contribute additional sources of revenue for support of continued research. Research partnerships with industry also can contribute knowledge, equipment, and technology that might not be available to individual academic researchers. The National Institutes of Health's recently released new roadmap for the future cites expanded research relationships among academia, industry and government as a necessary component for translating laboratory discoveries into usable therapies and technologies.

"The future of technology transfer at Emory holds great opportunity for the faculty, for the institution, and for our patients," says Emory Vice President for Research Frank Stout. "We are beginning to see that the support from the Georgia Research Alliance, the Georgia Cancer Coalition, the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Fund, the University Research Fund, the National Institutes of Health, and our other sponsors produces not only great science and scholarship, but also beneficial products."

For more information, or to contact Emory University, see their website at: whsc.emory.edu