This award is for a study entitled "Crossing Death Valley Together: Industry-University Intellectual Property Dynamics" which is designed to provide a systematic inquiry into the organizational-level dynamics between industry and universities around intellectual property (IP). While interest in IP has soared since the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, virtually all data collected on IP centers on the positives in the aggregate; the number of licenses negotiated the number of patents or disclosures, the total number of revenues or number of products launched. There is little information on what doesn't work, failures and strained relationships, or the impact on broader industry-university relations on current emphasis on IP. The material will be gathered through confidential (i.e., not-for-attribution), face-to-face interviews essential to get at the rationales, expectations, criteria and comparisons that frame the decision-makers understandings. Sources for the study will include university administrators, faculty and technology management officers, industry managers responsible for dealing with universities and a limited number of interviews with venture capital managers. Data analysis will center on in-depth content analysis of interview materials in search of underlying models of practice together with statistics characterizing the interviews and comparisons with available quantitative data including AUTM surveys and information on IP failures. The research will be conducted with the cooperation with the Industrial Research Institute and the Center for Innovative Management Systems.
