Summer 2004 -- Vol. 21

Penn State Among Top Ten University Patent Recipients

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has ranked Penn State among the top 10 university patent recipients of 2002.

Penn State is the only school in Pennsylvania to make the top ten and is ninth in the U.S. in the number of patents awarded last year.

Many of the 50 patents awarded to Penn State last year are already generating business, jobs and economic growth at spinoff companies. For example, two patents on inventions related to catalysis technology for pharmaceutical applications, developed by Xumu Zhang, associate professor of chemistry, are being put to work at Chiral Quest, Inc. The company is the first start-up based solely on Penn State technology to become publicly traded.

In fiscal 2002, Penn State expended more than $500 million on the research and creative activities from which patentable inventions spring. The research funding comes primarily from federal, industry, and foundation sources, is spent in Pennsylvania, and stimulates the local economy. For faculty and students at Penn State, the opportunity to do relevant and commercially useful research is an important component of the educational experience and fulfills a central mission of the University to serve the people of the Commonwealth and the nation.

The top ten university patent recipients, in order, are:

• University of California
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• California Institute of Technology
• Stanford University
• University of Texas
• Johns Hopkins University
• University of Wisconsin
• State University of New York
• Penn State
• Michigan State University

Steve Miller and Barbara K. Kennedy

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