Landing a spot in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s list, Top 10 Universities Receiving Most Patents in 2003, did not surprise technology-transfer specialists at Cornell Research Foundation (CRF), the unit that manages intellectual property for the university.

“This is just one measure of a successful technology transfer program, and all our indicators are on the increase. We’re on track to do even better in 2004,” said Richard S. Cahoon, senior vice president at CRF.

With 59 U.S. patents issued in 2003, Cornell shared the No. 10 ranking with University of Florida. In 2002 Cornell was 21st on the nationwide list, with 35 patents granted. No. 1 on the list with 439 patents in 2003 is the University of California, the public system with nine campuses, 201,000 students, and 160,000 faculty and staff members. By comparison, Cornell has three main campuses (in Ithaca, New York City, and Doha, Qatar), 20,225 students, and 11,835 faculty and staff members.

“If you consider the ratio of patents to employees, we’re more than twice as productive as the University of California,” Cahoon observed. “And we should do even better in the future. So far this year, we’re averaging more than one new invention disclosure each business day,” he reported, “and we expect to set an all-time high for the number of new inventions submitted to our office.”

Details on more than 360 Cornell-patented technologies are available for licensing on the web at http://www.cctec.cornell.edu/.

—Roger Segelken, Cornell News Service