The University of California system again tops our list of the most active academic centers for biotech patenting over the past five years (Table 1), followed by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and, lower down, the Pasteur Institute. Last year, the California system also recorded the most patents issued from the United States and European Union combined. Overall, the number of US biotech patents awarded in 2013 skyrocketed (Fig. 1); this jump is attributed to a greater number of biotech patent examiners at the US Patent and Trademark Office, which has allowed the office to work through a backlog of submissions brought on by increased university technology transfer efforts across the United States.

Table 1 Top academic centers ranked by number of biotech patents, 2009–2013
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Figure 1: Biotech patent trends, 2009–2013.
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Source: IP Checkups Inc.

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