THE recent Department of Education Science and Training report into the commercialisation performance of Australian universities shows that The University of Queensland is the forerunner of commercialisation in terms of money made from licences and the number of spin-out companies it has produced.
In 2002 UQ made the most income from licences out of the 38 universities surveyed by the Department of Education Science and Training.
It achieved a gross return of $27.9 million.
The next highest money earner was the University of New England, which made $6 million.
Murdoch ranked 15th with $234,000, UWA was 18th with $150, 233, Curtin 19th with $135, 459, while ECU didn’t earn any money from licenses.
UQ had 34 operational spin-out companies in 2002, holding equity in 28 of these. In the same year UWA had three spin-out companies operational and held equity in each of those.
However, UWA ranked second to UQ with equity holdings at 2002, valued at $11.4 million. UQ’s equity holding was $46.4 million.
UQ had more than three times the invention disclosures of the nearest Western Australian competitor, UWA.
Invention disclosures are often used as an indicator of commer-cial activity.
In 2002 UQ recorded 95 invention disclosures. During the same period Murdoch University had just three.
However, in the same year, UWA recorded 27 disclosures while The University of Melbourne lodged just two.
UWA’s invention disclosures grew from 18 the previous year.
UQ also files a large number of patents. In 2002 it filed 49 US and Australian patent applications, while UWA filed 15.
UQ has had 31 patents issued worldwide compared with UWA’s two.