The University of California ranks No. 1 among U.S. universities for the number of U.S. utility patents granted, according to the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Top 100 U.S. Universities list released in March, which is compiled from calendar-year data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
UC, which includes 10 campuses such as UC Santa Barbara, also says it holds the No. 1 global position per NAI and produces nearly twice as many patents as the second-place U.S. university.
The system reports rights to more than 6,800 active U.S. patents and notes it generates more patents than government agencies and nonprofits, including the Department of Energy.
University leaders and technology transfer experts point to the bipartisan Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 as the policy foundation that unlocked today’s university-driven innovation economy by allowing universities, small businesses, and nonprofits to own and license inventions arising from federally funded research.
Before Bayh-Dole, federal agencies had licensed about 1,400 inventions to companies in total; by 2024, U.S. universities licensed 9,500 inventions to industry in a single year, according to data cited by UC.
The patent leadership dovetails with UC’s broader research profile: the system highlights 75 Nobel Prizes—more than any other university—alongside strong commercialization outcomes that bring campus discoveries into everyday use in health, technology, and other sectors.
From 1996 to 2020, university patents generated an estimated $1.9 trillion in economic output, created 6.5 million U.S. jobs, and helped launch more than 19,000 startups, per the Association of University Technology Managers.
NAI is a membership organization spanning universities, government agencies, research institutes, and industry, with more than 4,600 individual members across 260-plus institutions worldwide; 162 UC faculty are members, according to the university.
This article does not give us much information on the “profits” made from such patents. I have been led to believe that the actual economic profit from the profitable patents is owned by the private companies that fund many of these projects. It would seem that the huge number of patents rejported here should actually fund the state university system on its own if the income was actually sent to the academic researchers. But corporate schemes have, I am told, diverted these moneys into private hands.
Why fund a project if you get no benefit?
You only think that if you think money is the be all and end all.
Where in the article does it state that there is no benefit to the UC system? Beyond that, why don’t you learn how to read?
Also–the UC system generates between 150-200 million in revenue by licensing their patents and rights.
And, let’s say they generated zero revenue. Why fund a project in that case? Uh, many so you students can learn how to execute scientific innovations, uh, maybe because these innovations make our communities more prosperous, safer, cleaner, healthier….yeah, why do anything for any reason but personal profit.
Typical MAGA brain, can’t even comprehend.