Iowa universities push for patents

Chances are good that every email you send, call you make, or text message you type involves lead-free solder technology from Iowa State University.

ISU researchers also likely have a hand in feeding your family. About 20 percent of the world's seedless watermelons come from a germ plasm developed at ISU. Most pork involves use of an ISU technology that improves its taste and keeps costs down, said Lisa Lorenzen, executive director of the ISU Research Foundation.

'And Maytag blue cheese came from Iowa State,” she said.

The extensive reach of those discoveries - and many more across Iowa's three public universities - is the result of commercialization enabled through patents, licenses and copyrights. Every year, Iowa's regent universities receive dozens of patents - and millions in royalties - for technologies and inventions developed on campus.

Expanding benefits of doing so - generating revenue, reaching the public and connecting with businesses - is behind a new 'intellectual property management” partnership between ISU and University of Northern Iowa. The agreement won't cost UNI anything for ISU's services, but it does require the institution to share royalties.

'This is really about being sister institutions and helping each other out and doing it because it's the best thing to do and the best use of state resources,” Lorenzen said.

Most of the institutions' patentable and licensable intellectual property originates at the University of Iowa and ISU. UI applied for 184 patents in 2014 and received 80 - most of which were international. ISU applied for 39 patents and received 33 - all of which were U.S.

But UNI also has seen some demand in the past five years, applying for 27 and receiving 12.

‘Iowa State does a lot more'

Patenting, licensing, and potentially commercializing property, technology and inventions can take a lot of work, time and resources.

Lorenzen said UNI's officials have occasionally consulted with ISU to make sure they don't miss anything. 'Iowa State does this a lot more than UNI,” she said.

The new agreement, signed in May, gives UNI the option to tap ISU in its efforts to patent or license property. It saves UNI from having to fund its own technology transfer office.

But it does require the institution to share royalties it recieves from property or technology that ISU helps to patent or license. Those royalties might come in a lump sum or annually based on sales, Lorenzen said. In the 2014 budget year, ISU received 113 new technology disclosures, which are new ideas someone wants to license or patent.

'My rough number is UNI will add 10 percent,” Lorenzen said.

Although UI does extensive technology transfer work, most of it is for medical research or the biosciences, and ISU made a more natural partner for UNI.

‘We are not going to get rich'

Economic development - often in the form of patenting, licensing, and commercializing intellectual property - has been a growing priority.

But the push isn't all about making money, said Zev Sunleaf, executive director of the UI Research Foundation. In fact, he said, most technology transfer offices lose money - save some 'home run” years like 2009 and 2010 for UI, when one of its patents bumped up income totals to $46.3 million and $31.4 million, respectively.

But many years are like 2014, which saw income at $4.9 million but expenses of $6.6 million, according to Sunleaf. Still, he said, ancillary benefits like working with industry, bringing in sponsored research and finding jobs for graduates justifies it.

'Most offices do it because it's a way of bringing companies to campus, and it's a way for our faculty to see their technologies reach the populations they want to reach,” he said. The income that does come in is distributed based on university policy. At UI, the first $100,000 goes to the inventor, who then gets a quarter of the proceeds after that. Of the remainder, 15 percent goes to the inventor's college, 15 percent to his or her department, 20 percent to the Office of Research and Economic Development, and the UI Research Foundation keeps 25 percent, Sunleaf said.

The notion of benefiting the broader community is why UI researchers Justin Grobe and Mark Santillan are excited about patenting a biomarker they discovered to help predict whether a pregnant woman will develop pre-eclampsia, a complication that can cause serious or fatal damage to organs.

The two in 2014 filed a patent application for the diagnostic portion of their discovery, and are still waiting to hear back.

'We are not going to get rich off this,” Grobe said. 'But really our mission is to train the next generation of scientists and to change medicine.”