For nearly half a century, the Bayh-Dole Act has transformed federally funded research into new companies, products, jobs, and as much as $3.3 trillion in U.S. economic output, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Bayh-Dole Coalition.
The Bayh-Dole Act is a federal law enacted in 1980 that enables universities, nonprofit research institutions and small businesses to own, patent and commercialize inventions developed under federally funded research programs within their organizations. Before Bayh-Dole, the federal government took ownership of most inventions made with federal support.
The law requires nonprofit research institutions, like universities, to share licensing royalties with inventors and reinvest the remainder in technology transfer costs, scientific research, and education. This helps sustain future discoveries and powers a cycle of continued innovation.
The coalition’s report draws on nearly three decades of data from AUTM's voluntary licensing survey, analyzed by independent research firm Vital Transformation. It shows in detail how federally funded research contributes to the American economy through breakthrough products, startup creation, jobs supported, and more.
The Northeast, home to many of the nation’s oldest and most research-intensive universities, is the country’s leading region for technology transfer. Collectively, institutions across the nine-state region from Maine to New Jersey generated approximately $8 billion in gross licensing income and $4.2 billion in running royalty income from 2021-2025.
Northeast region institutions also helped launch 4,823 startups and introduced 2,331 new products made possible by federally funded research over the past 25 years. Pennsylvania (1,100 new startups/626 new commercialized products) Massachusetts (1,726 startups/731 products), and New York (1,385 startups/621 products), rank among the nation’s strongest performers during that 25-year period, demonstrating the region’s leadership in research commercialization the report said.
In New Jersey, technology transfer activity launched 261 startups and 146 commercialized products launched during that same 25-year period, the report said.
The Bayh-Dole framework has helped establish the Northeast as a global center for industries such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, advanced healthcare, artificial intelligence, robotics, and financial technology. Notable innovations benefiting from federal funding emerging from the region’s research institutions include the HIV/AIDS therapy Zerit from Yale University, high-definition video and audio technologies from Columbia University, and mRNA and CAR T-cell technologies from the University of Pennsylvania, the report said.
"For more than 45 years, Bayh-Dole has helped turn American research into American innovation, jobs, companies, and economic growth," said Joseph P. Allen, Executive Director of the Bayh-Dole Coalition. "These numbers show the enormous economic impact of giving those closest to an invention the incentive and opportunity to bring it from the laboratory to the marketplace."
The complete report can be accessed here.
