Celebrating 30 Years of Driving Innovation
Enacted on December 12, 1980, the Bayh-Dole Act enabled academic institutions and businesses to retain title to inventions made under federally funded research programs and created a uniform intellectual property management policy for the federal agencies that fund research.
2010 marks the 30th anniversary of this inspired legislation. The Association of American Universities, The Association of University Technology Managers and The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities have joined forces to celebrate the past, present and future of the Bayh-Dole Act.
Learn more about the groundbreaking legislation by interacting below.
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Adaptive Lens Technologies
/img/slideshow/photos/1.jpgIdeal for small, adjustable camera lenses, University of Central Florida
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Saving Lives
/img/slideshow/photos/2.jpgCrash-test software saves lives and money, Wayne State University
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Concentric Medical Inc.
/img/slideshow/photos/3.jpgSaving stroke victims, University of California, Los Angeles
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CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment
/img/slideshow/photos/4.jpgScientific visualization leads to the CAVE, University of Illinois at Chicago
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FluMist
/img/slideshow/photos/5.jpgFluMist reshapes the fight against flu, University of Michigan
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Heart Disease Awareness
/img/slideshow/photos/6.jpgNew cholesterol tests predict heart disease in the silent majority, The Texas A&M University System
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Falcon View
/img/slideshow/photos/7.jpgMapping software takes birds-eye view to a new level, Georgia Institute of Technology
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HIV Drugs
/img/slideshow/photos/8.jpgOnce-a-day HIV meds improve quality of life and hold promise for developing countries, Emory University
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The Nicotine Patch
/img/slideshow/photos/9.jpgTurning quitters into winners: a success story, University of California, Los Angeles
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Independent Living
/img/slideshow/photos/10.jpgHigh-tech partnership yields technological innovations for our aging population, Oregon Health & Science University
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The Honeycrisp Apple
/img/slideshow/photos/11.jpgA sweet, tart jump-start for a sagging limb of the apple industry, University of Minnesota
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Disease Detection
/img/slideshow/photos/12.jpgMeasuring pH of exhaled breath helps identity airway diseases, University of Virginia
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Of Mice and Women
/img/slideshow/photos/13.jpgChemically altered rodents help researchers study diseases in postmenopausal women, University of Arizona
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Ultreo Toothbrush
/img/slideshow/photos/14.jpgImproving one of the world's oldest inventions, University of Washington
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Engineering the Perfect Grass
/img/slideshow/photos/15.jpgPut away the lawnmower and water sprinkler - buffalograss may bring relaxation to your summer, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
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Coumadin
/img/slideshow/photos/16.jpgUW-Madison research yields the most widely prescribed blood thinner, University of Wisconsin-Madison
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The Greener Cleaner
/img/slideshow/photos/17.jpgAn alternative to toxic dry-cleaning methods, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
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A Cooler Roof
/img/slideshow/photos/18.jpgLetting cooler roofs prevail, Berkeley Lab and Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Bayh-Dole History
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The Legislation
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Read the original P.L. 96-517, Patent and Trademark Act Amendments of 1980 in its entirety. |
Impact Map
Did You Know?
Since enactment, more than 5,000 new companies have formed around academic research. The majority located in close proximity to the university. Academic research helped create 1.6 new companies a day.
University technology transfer creates billions of dollars of direct benefits to the U.S. economy every year.
In 2008, academic institutions helped create 648 new products.
Academic research helped create whole new industries, like biotechnology, where the U.S. enjoys a leadership role.
What's Been Said?
"Ultimately, it is believed that these improvements in government patent policy will lead to greater productivity in the United States, provide new jobs for our citizens, create new economic growth, foster increased competition, make government research and development contracting more competitive, and stimulate a greater return on the billions of dollars spent each year by the government on its research and development programs."
—Senate Judiciary Committee Report, Dec. 12, 1979, on S.414, unanimously approved and reported to the Senate
"...the preponderance of the empirical evidence produced to date seems to suggest that, by vesting presumptive patent ownership in the recipients of federally funded genetic research, the Bayh-Dole Act is indeed achieving not only its statutory purpose but also the larger, constitutionally mandated requirement that the U.S. patent system "promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts."
—The Impact of the Bayh-Dole Act on Genetic Research and Development: Evaluating the Arguments and Empirical Evidence to Date