Technology transfer offices have their work cut out to turn innovative ideas into reality Fewer than 4% of R&D publications generated by SA universities are commercialised 26 April 2021 - 08:04 Joshua Romisher Picture: 123RF/Pop Nukoonrat In 2018 universities worldwide spent more than R3.9bn on research & development (R&D). According to the National Intellectual Property Management Office, in that same year SA universities generated 19,808 R&D publications. However, fewer than 4% of those publications were commercialised as inventions, patents or intellectual property (IP). It’s perhaps no shock then that a study conducted among university technology transfer offices in the US concluded that only 13% of those offices can cover their operating costs. Something is clearly amiss when fewer than one out of every eight technology transfer offices in the world’s most developed country are actually viable entities themselves.