Technology Transfer at UC San Diego

Overview

UC San Diego’s Technology Transfer Office (TTO) was established in November 1994 to advance the successful placement of UCSD innovations with commercial partners for development into useful products and to advance the university’s mission. The TTO is responsible for protecting, managing and licensing the intellectual property of UC San Diego, including inventions in the biomedical, life science and physical sciences sectors, copyright-protected materials such as software and images, and tangible research materials. The TTO, which has authority to license UCSD innovations, does so with the goal of fulfilling its mission to promote and facilitate the transfer of UC San Diego innovations for the benefit of the University community and the public. The TTO manages the transfer of university technologies by assessing the market demand, protecting university inventions through patent prosecution, and licensing intellectual and/or tangible property rights to companies – both start-ups and more established businesses.  In addition, the TTO distributes net income according to university policies and guidelines thereby providing incentives for the generation of new innovations and funds that can be used to support additional research and education at the university.

UC San Diego is a catalyst for regional economic growth, with nearly 400 innovations disclosed per year at the campus. According to UCSD’s recent Economic Impact Report, UC San Diego researchers and others are responsible for the formation of over 200 local technology companies. Over 120 start-up companies have been founded on licensed university technologies, with many of them based locally. In FY2008 alone, TTO executed 82 license agreements with companies; filed 212 U.S. patent applications; had 45 new U.S. patents issued; licensed innovations to 14 start-ups; and generated gross income of $30.8 million from university intellectual property.

Working with Our Campus Partners

In conjunction with our campus partners, TTO organizes educational events, including intellectual property seminars, dialogues, roundtables, and presentations, and student internships. Our outreach campaign strives to increase awareness of the university’s intellectual property program, IP policies and issues on campus, and fosters an entrepreneurial culture in the greater university community.

In the most recent Milken Institute study “Mind to Market: A Global Analysis of University Biotechnology Transfer and Commercialization” (2006), UC San Diego was ranked in the top ten for Biotechnology Publication Ranking, Biotechnology Patent Ranking and University Technology Transfer and Commercialization Index. Currently, TTO manages a portfolio of over 2600 innovations in life sciences and physical sciences that are available for licensing. More information about TTO is available at http://invent.ucsd.edu.

Technology Transfer Results (FY2000-FY2008)

Fiscal Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Licenses
47
46
51
34
56
72
71
85
82
U.S. Patents Issued
58
59
42
51
50
60
44
64
45
Disclosures
235
281
311
322
314
334
345
373
364
Start-ups
7
11
10
8
9
15
17
9
14
Gross Income ($millions
$9
$8.3
$17
$10.6
$11.4
$21.6
$26.7
$26.3
$30.8

 

 

UC San Diego

Technology Transfer Office

10300 N. Torrey Pines Rd.
TPCN, 1st Floor
La Jolla, CA 92093-0910
Tel: 858-534-5815
Fax: 858-534-7345
E-mail: invent@ucsd.edu