IU Touts Boost in Commercialization Efforts

The paid parental leave policy will begin July 1.

The Indiana University Innovation and Commercialization Office is touting the school’s technology transfer activity in the 2016-2017 fiscal year. The university received 57 issued patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a more than 20 percent increase over the previous year.

IU is also reporting 164 disclosed inventions during the fiscal year, a 9.3 percent increase over 2015-2016. The university completed 62 licensing agreements, which is a 44.2 percent increase over the previous year and a 10-year high for IU. The university also received $6.67 million generated from licensing and royalty revenue, which is distributed to researchers and their laboratories.

IU says the number of startup companies launched by university researchers rose over the last year. IU CIO Executive Director Bill Brizzard says the quality of research conducted at the university led to the successful year.

"By disclosing inventions to Indiana University ICO, inventors form the foundation upon which all other technology transfer activities build," said Brizzard. "Our goal is to bring discoveries to the marketplace that will impact people’s lives around the world. These operations and this goal remain the same for my colleagues and me, even as our name has changed."

IU’s innovation and commercialization activities fell under the auspices of the Indiana University Research and Technology Corp. during the 2016-2017 fiscal year. Those activities are now run by the IU CIO, which was created through a reorganization effort announced by IU in late June.