Biden voted for the Bayh-Dole Act 44 years ago–but the administration’s plans to reinterpret it could undermine decades of world-leading U.S. innovation
by Almesha L. Campbell, Ph.D., Assistant Vice President for Research and Economic Development at Jackson State University
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) could soon become even bigger innovation hubs, thanks to measures advanced by Senator Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.). He recently introduced a bill to ensure that land-grant HBCUs receive fair funding, and last year, he fought to fund these institutions in the CHIPS and Science Act.
His actions could help HBCUs foster scientific innovations that become real-world products. But whether the schools will be able to take advantage of the new opportunities depends on a process known as “technology transfer,” which brings promising breakthroughs out of university labs to everyday consumers. The Google search algorithm, the nicotine patch, and the Honeycrisp apple are just a few of the myriad innovations to come out of this process.
For over 12 years I have led the tech transfer program at Jackson State University, one of the largest HBCUs in the United States. I am now also the first person from an HBCU to chair AUTM, a non-profit organization of more than 3,000 members dedicated to transforming academic discoveries into the products and services of tomorrow.
Much of the modern tech transfer process flows from a revolutionary yet little-known 1980 law called the Bayh-Dole Act. That pivotal law allows academic institutions to directly protect and commercialize discoveries arising from federally funded research on their campuses. Universities are then free to license that intellectual property to private-sector companies, which further invest funds and continue to research and develop those inventions into commercially useful products.
The effects of the Bayh-Dole law, and the technology transfer horsepower it unleashed, are staggering. Between 1996 and 2020, technology transfer resulting from Bayh-Dole contributed as much as $1.9 trillion to U.S. economic output and supported some 6.5 million jobs.