Exploring the "value" of academic patents: IP management practices in UK universities and their implications for Third-Stream indicators

In a number of large UK universities, patents are becoming of some importance as feeding into third-stream revenues. This paper argues that conventional methods for assessing the value of the patents as sometimes determined for the corporate sector may not work very effectively in an academic context. It uses evidence from 4 larger UK universities to show the diversity of their IP management practices. Dr Tang was primarily responsible for the data and IP management sections of the paper.