John L. King

Public sector technology transfer through patents and licensing: the case of US agriculture

In the USA, the public sector historically was the primary supplier of new agricultural technologies. But over the past 20-30 years, public agricultural research funding has been relatively stagnant while private sector research spending has surpassed it. At the same time, as the US policy environment has changed, patenting and licensing have become increasingly important mechanisms for technology transfer from the public sector. We review these policy changes and provide an empirical example of public sector patenting in agricultural biotechnology. Patenting by the US federal government has been relatively limited and concentrated in a few areas of technology. On the other hand, agricultural biotechnology patenting by US universities has expanded rapidly and has covered a broader spectrum of technologies.