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Columns::October 6, 2003
UGA will help lead $35 million project to improve education
Reversing trends: Institute of Government fellow heads up study of ‘persistent poverty’
UGACard office updates ID cards
Hudson Institute senior fellow will give 2003 Brooks Lecture
Film series traces ‘path to power’
Live and learn
UGA welcomes new faculty
The faculty perspective
Field trip
Campus News
Licensing, royalty income increases by more than 9 percent in FY2003
By Judy Purdy
jbp@ovpr.uga.edu
Income from licensing and royalty fees based on UGA discoveries and inventions grew 9.1 percent during fiscal year 2003,
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Gordhan Patel
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according to Rob Fincher, director of technology commercialization for the UGA Research Foundation Inc. Royalties and fees generated $4,183,289 in fiscal year ’03 compared with $3,833,568 in fiscal year ’02. Licensing revenues for the past five years have grown 53.2 percent.
The research foundation collects licensing fees and royalties from companies and organizations that have licensed UGA-developed inventions, discoveries and technologies.
Fincher’s office is charged with seeking protection on inventions and other intellectual property derived from UGA research programs. The goal is to license technologies that can benefit the public, he says.
Among those technologies is Restasis, a prescription drug treatment for chronic dry eye based on a UGA invention. The FDA approved the new drug last December and Allergan Inc. began marketing it this past spring.
We project that Restasis will become our number one revenue generator this next year,” Fincher says. “In the past, about half of the university’s licensing and royalty fees have come from plant varieties. UGA is one of the most successful universities in the country at developing plant varieties that are used commercially.”
Those include the “Georgia Green” peanut and a number of popular turfgrasses, such as “TifEagle” and “TifSport,” as well as a new drought-tolerant paspalam grass that is gaining popularity for golf courses across the South.
Licensing fees are negotiated at the beginning of a formal licensing agreement and also may include fees paid at certain specified stages. Royalties are payments received on sales of licensed products and are entirely tied to volume of sales.
Income generated from licensing fees and royalties is distributed to inventors, academic departments and the research foundation, according to policies established by the university and the board of regents. Proceeds returned to the UGARF research fund are invested directly into new and existing programs of research and creativity that span UGA’s broad range of academic disciplines.
“It is especially important in these economic times to continue investing in research programs that help increase the knowledge base of society and contribute to a higher quality of life,” says Gordhan Patel, vice president for research. “Income from licensing and royalties help to grow and strengthen the university’s research programs.” |
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