A supportive atmosphere helps university-based innovators to produce more patents and inventions, says a survey (E. M. Hunter et al. Res. Pol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2011.05.024; 2011) of scientists at Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) — interdisciplinary centres funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) to bridge academia and industry. Support includes rewards for commercialization that are built into the tenure or promotion processes, institutional leadership that fosters cross-disciplinary opportunities and technology-transfer offices that streamline the patent process. Universities trying to move away from publications as the sole metric of promotion could use ERCs as a model, says study author Emily Hunter, an organizational psychologist at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.