Task Force on Managing University IP

Managing Intellectual Property for the Public Good

The APLU Task Force on Managing University Intellectual Property published a set of recommendations in March, 2015: Statement to APLU Members of Recommendations on Managing University Intellectual Property.

Since October of 2014, the task force has been engaging in an examination of the purposes of university innovation, technology transfer, commercialization, and entrepreneurship. The task force has helped to shape a critically needed response to questions from the public and policy makers regarding the extent to which universities are managing intellectual property for the public good.

Detailed findings can be found here in the task force's March 2015 report

In November 2017, a report of the Technology Transfer Evolution Working Group of APLU’s Commission on Innovation, Competitiveness & Economic Prosperity (CICEP) was published. Download Technology Transfer Evolution: Driving Economic Prosperity.

Summary of Recommendations
  • University leaders should follow the recommendation of the National Research Council’s 2011 report, Managing University Intellectual Property in the Public Interest, to create a clear university IP policy.
  • University leaders should make visible existing institutional policies that restrict the university from working with entities that acquire intellectual property rights with no real intention of commercializing the technologies.
  • University leaders should review and support to the extent practical the document In the Public Interest: Nine Points to Consider in Licensing University Technology, and align IP management policies and practices with the Nine Points.
  • University leaders should identify and implement innovative and effective approaches to managing university IP, and more broadly to engaging with entrepreneurs and industry, and work to emulate practices that have been effectively adopted by peers.
  • University leaders should develop a framework for assessing intellectual property practice to include multiple measures that capture and reflect the university’s IP management mission.