OTLA Half Century of
P i o n e e r i n g I n n o v at i o n

sta n fo r d o f f i c e o f t e c h n o lo g y l i c e n s i n g
a n n u a l r e p o r t FY 2 0 2 0

“What is now proved
was once only imagined.”
2—William Blake
19th-century English poet

NUMBER OF technologies
THAT HAD > $1M in income
for at least one fiscal year

NUMBER OF technologies
THAT HAD > $100K In income
for at least one fiscal year575

11,407
Inventors

103

415
STARTUPS

13,699CUMULATIVE technologies

50 YEARS @ A GLANCE
$

2,539

REVENUE-GENERATING INVENTIONS

4,832

CUMULATIVE U.S. PATENTS ISSUED

5
Top

5,261
21,7225,440
CUMULATIVE LICENSES SIGNED

Cumulative Industry Research Agreements

Cumulative SPONSORED Research Agreements

Revenue-generating Inventions
Functional
Antibodies
pagerank
algorithm
Recombinant DNA
CD47 Cancer
Immunotherapy
Transcription-MediatedAmplification$2,109,000,000
Cumulative Licensing Revenue

3R e fl e cti on s o n a M i le sto n e
In Their Own Words

To understand OTL’s half century of pioneering innovation,

student’s vision of the web, and the young researcher taking

we interviewed more than a dozen Stanford executives,

aim at rare pediatric cancer. Many of their reflections areinventors, and staff past and present. Sitting down with a few

featured throughout the pages of this 50th Anniversary Annualof the people who’ve shaped OTL’s 50-year history is a once

Report. One common thread is that innovation takes a village.

in a generation opportunity. What emerges are memories ofAnother is collaboration — how OTL works synergisticallydiscovery and disruption that, together, begin to build a muchwith the many translational research and entrepreneurshiplarger story of Stanford’s mission to transform its research

programs on campus to enable successful commercialization.

outcomes into useful commercial products and services.

In the words of Prof. Jennifer Dionne, Senior Associate ViceOTL’s role in that story is fundamentally about people — like

Provost for Shared Facilities, “OTL is not just a place to file athe tale of the licensing associate who took a chance on a gradpatent, but a vibrant and vital community for inventors.”

Foundation“My fundamental philosophy has always been to plant as many seeds as possible.”—Katharine Ku, executive Director of OTL from 1991 to 20184

“I just have to get this off my chest,” says Kevin
Grimes, co-director of Stanford’s SPARK program.
“I have been traveling around the world to a lotof universities that are trying to get translational
research off the ground. Stanford OTL is the envy of
every university on the planet.”

Joe Allen, who helped chart the law’s tortuous passage
as a staff member for Sen. Birch Bayh, lauds Reimers’
vision some 40 years on. Allen notes that at thetime of those Senate hearings, an estimated 28,000
inventions had “piled up” in the federal agencies, andless than 5 percent were ever licensed.

Today, OTL manages and markets more than 500
new invention disclosures per year from investigators
across campus. But the pace and scale of invention
was not always like this. When maverick Stanford
administrator Niels Reimers and office manager
Sally Hines launched the OTL pilot in the late 1960s,
the technology development and commercialization
landscape was unrecognizable.

“I think that the mission of U.S. universities is very wellserved by the Bayh-Dole legislation,” says Ann Arvin,former Vice Provost and Dean of Research at Stanford.
“Faculty and students and research staff who create
new knowledge need a path to move that knowledgeout of the university to industry for practicalapplications and that is very largely through offices oftechnology licensing.”

At that time, Stanford’s patent management wascontracted out to a corporation in New York thatgenerated just $5,000 in royalties over 13 years.
Reimers’ in-house program bested those returns
more than tenfold in its first year. OTL was swiftly
made official in 1970 and would become the model
for licensing offices around the world.

Tech transfer continued to evolve significantly inthe years following Bayh-Dole. At a critical juncture,
Katharine Ku, Reimers’ successor and longtime
director of OTL, helped craft the guidelines that shape
university licensing practices to this day.

“They said ‘there’s no career path for you,’” laughs
Reimers, who retired from Stanford in 1991.
Testifying before Congress, Reimers was Stanford’s
voice in championing the Bayh-Dole Act, the 1980
bipartisan legislation that undergirds modern techtransfer.

Those guidelines, known as the “Nine Points toConsider in Licensing University Technology,” are a setof widely adopted principles that encourage creative
solutions to complex problems that may arise when
universities license technologies for society’s benefit.
“The Nine Points are a pledge of allegiance that we asuniversities transfer technology for the public good,”Ku says.

Innovation“You can’t just throw technology over the wall. If you look at the long
history of Stanford technology transfer, dating back to Hewlett andPackard, it’s all about people. And I don’t think that’s going away.”—John Hennessy,
Stanford President from 2000 to 2016

Ask an OTL staff member about memorable stories
and they chronicle breakthroughs like recombinantDNA, functional antibodies, interactive datavisualization software, solid-state batteries, and newfrontiers in medical devices and medical imaging.
After thirty years and hundreds of cases, Luis Mejia
still recalls meeting Larry Page in the lobby of OTL.
Page, a graduate student, had come with a novel
algorithm for ranking web pages on the emergent
internet. Page looked to license his complex solution toany extant tech company. Mejia, a seasoned licensing
associate, started working his contacts.
The rejection was universal. Just as Page and colleague
Sergey Brin prepared to embark on their own venture,
one company called back seeking a non-exclusive
license. Mejia declined.
“I knew it would damage the possibility of Larry andSergey’s startup. I decided, okay, it’s not about themoney. It’s really about doing the right thing for thetechnology.”
Everyone in the office watched what happened next.
“How Google evolved — we planted one seed andthey just grew. Totally crazy,” says Linda Chao, aformer OTL senior licensing associate now at MIT,
who finalized and managed the license after Mejia had
negotiated the financial arrangements with Google.
But Google was not OTL’s first nor unlikeliest triumph.
It was 1970, and John Chowning, a composer in themusic department with six years of moonlight researchin computer sound synthesis at the Stanford Artificial
Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL), reached out to the
newly created OTL with an extraordinary acoustic
discovery. His invention, frequency modulation (FM)synthesis, enabled the sound of ‘real’ instruments to be
replicated digitally.
Turned down by top instrument makers, the tenacityof OTL staff led to a collaboration with Yamaha
Corporation, and the advent of digital sound as weknow it — from video game consoles to cell phones.
“I never wanted to be an inventor,” says Chowning. “I’ma discoverer. One musicologist told me, ‘what you’re
doing is the dehumanization of music.’ And I said,maybe it’s the humanization of computers.”
The storied collaboration illustrates what Sara
Nakashima, a former senior licensing associate andnow special projects associate at OTL, describes ascustomer service.
“With OTL, it’s about what’s best for the technology,”
Nakashima says. “We have a very collaborative
approach to working with the researchers. Customer
service is really key. The relationship with the inventors
is the essential thing.”
Mona Wan, OTL’s associate director of licensing,adds that Stanford’s key differentiator is its risk-taking
culture. “Failure isn’t an issue because the mindset isthat you can still be successful even if you fail several
times in a row.”5

Challenges“Going forward, I would like to see OTL play a moreformative role in Stanford Research.”—kathryn Ann Moler,
Dean of Research

In April 2020, a trio of university licensing offices— Stanford, MIT and Harvard — launched an
unprecedented technology access framework to speed
the deployment of COVID-19 solutions.
A year later, the rise and evolution of the pandemic has
inspired many in the scientific community to reflect onlessons learned.

6“I am hoping that this coronavirus experience will leadto more open collaboration and sharing of data,” says
Sandy Shotwell, a former OTL licensing associate who
now leads a drug discovery company. “I’m not sure
how that will be accomplished given the incentives in
the field, but I’m hoping this year will teach us that.”
Beyond COVID-19, tomorrow’s pressing issues are
already upon us, observes Glennia Campbell, directorof OTL’s Industrial Contracts Office.
“What we’re seeing is an upswing in big data andresearch on data,” Campbell says. “Particularly in AI
and machine learning, they need data in order to train
algorithms. How we view data as an asset and how
we protect privacy is a big question that is evolving
right now.”

The challenges aren’t all technological, notes Director
Karin Immergluck. For OTL to fulfill its mission totransfer knowledge for the public good, we must makean effort to engage all faculty, including women andpeople of color, to help ensure that their novel ideas
having commercial potential are developed and given
the visibility they deserve.
“We need to make sure that we are proactively
reaching out to underrepresented populations
to help them realize that, yes, you too can be anentrepreneur,” Immergluck says.
“There is a shift happening across academia among
women thinking of themselves beyond just basic
researchers. I think it’s not just the research mentality,
but how universities are working with corporations,”
says Kirsten Leute, a former OTL associate directorof licensing and now at Osage University Partners, aventure capital firm.
“Those ivory towers are no longer. They can’t be,because it stifles how innovation progresses.”

Opportunities“We need to keep evolving with the changing global landscape.”—Karin Immergluck,
executive DIRECTOR OF OTL“Our faculty members might target their research more
successfully if they refined their understanding of what itmeans to have transferable technology,” says Stanford’s
Dean of Research Kathryn Ann Moler. “In the future, I
would like to see OTL expand their activities to educate
our research community about entrepreneurship, market
requirements, and industrial requirements.”
Daria Mochly-Rosen, director of Stanford’s SPARKtranslational research program, is one of OTL’s close
partners. The majority of SPARK projects address
chronically neglected areas including child and maternal
health, global health, and orphan diseases.
“OTL is open to out-of-the-box thinking,” Mochly-Rosensays. “It will continue to lead the path for other techtransfer offices.”“Big problems call for science,” notes Arvin, theformer dean of research who worked with former
Stanford President Hennessy to shape the university’s
interdisciplinary culture. “We know that discovery
science is not what it used to be. Stanford researchers
have to have access to much more sophisticatedtechnologies, instrumentation, and large-scalecomputing to sustain the creation of new knowledge.”
Brian Bartholemuez, executive director of Innovation
Transfer for the TomKat Center, agrees that Stanford willcontinue to rise to the challenges, not only because itis equipped with those resources, but because it has
the “the tribal lore of how to do it. Think of the waves
of innovation that have swept through the Valley.
There is a lot of retained knowledge that’s passed
down to successive generations.”
And whether it’s CRISPR gene editing or artificial
intelligence, the next waves are arriving now.
John Hennessy, former president of Stanford and
now Alphabet Chairman, says: “These revolutionary
platforms are moving at the same rates as thesemiconductor industry in the Moore’s law era.
Figuring out how we build on that and ensure thatit’s delivered to society is going to be our key.
We owe future generations the ability to ensurethat they can get out their innovations and spread[them] to society.”
It is precisely that vision — of honoring the past whileembracing the ‘next 50’ and beyond — that is sharedby Immergluck.
“Part of my job is to maintain that iconic status asone of the leading tech transfer offices of the world,”
she says. “But at the same time . . . we need to keep
evolving with the changing global landscape.”7

1970sB EGINNINGST

he 1970s witnessed the beginning of modern computing, the rise of fiber optics
technology, integrated circuits and semiconductor lasers. Major advances weretaking place in medicine, including computerized axial tomography (CAT), monoclonal antibody technology, and immunotherapy. The first complete DNA genome wassequenced in 1977, when researchers identified the genetic structure of a type of virus.
Recombinant DNA Lays the Foundation
for the Biotech Industry
Prof. Stanley Cohen and Prof. Herbert Boyer (UCSan Francisco) first conceived of a way to “clone”
DNA, the substance that contains an organism’s
complete genetic information, while attending a
conference in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1972. Chatting
at a delicatessen on Waikiki Beach, the two researchers postulated that with Boyer’s restriction
enzymes and Cohen’s plasmid technology, it
might be possible to insert foreign DNA into a
plasmid, insert that plasmid into a living organism, then induce that organism to replicate andproduce the foreign DNA. In just four months
Cohen and Boyer together successfully cloned
their first piece of DNA.

8

The recombinant DNA patent, autographed by Stanley Cohenand Herbert Boyer for Niels Reimers

People tend to
think that once you
have an invention,
its value will bereadily perceived
by aggressive
companies andworth millions.
That’s so far fromthe truth.”­—Niels Reimers
1975 Stanford
Campus Report

The discovery of recombinant DNA technology
set the stage for modern genetics and the biotech industry. The first commercial recombinant
DNA product, engineered by Genentech, was human insulin for diabetics. Vaccines for COVID-19,
influenza, papilloma virus and hepatitis B, alongwith human growth hormones, monoclonal
antibodies, and CRISPR are among the manytechnologies founded on recombinant DNA.

1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

Niels Reimers formally establishes
the Office of Technology
Licensing.

Stanford Research Institute(SRI) separates from
Stanford University.

Profs. John Farquhar and Peter
Wood lead the first large
investigation that shows loweringcholesterol levels prevents heartdisease.

Prof. Paul Berg successfully
combines the DNA of two
different organisms.

Prof. Bradford Parkinson leads thedevelopment of Global Positioning
System (GPS).

Prof. William S. Robinson isolates
the genetic blueprint of a virusthat causes Hepatitis B.

Optimization Software

Prof. John Chowning playing the Yamaha DX-7

FM Sound Synthesis and Digital Music
Prof. John Chowning pioneered algorithms forfrequency modulation (FM) sound synthesis beginning in 1967. His invention disclosure for “location and movement of sound” was one of thefirst cases handled by OTL after the office wasestablished in 1970. In 1974, Chowning founded
the Center for Computer Research in Music andAcoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford, which remains
one of the leading centers for computer music
and related research. Yamaha licensed his discoveries in 1975, producing the most successfulline of digital synthesis engines ever brought tomarket. FM synthesis sounds would eventually
figure prominently in nearly every pop music hitof the 1980s, such as the work of Madonna andPhil Collins. FM sound synthesis was OTL’s first‘home run’ and was for many years one of theuniversity’s top revenue- producing licenses.

Beginning in 1975, several software programs
were developed for solving large-scale optimization problems by scientists Philip Gill, Walter
Murray, Bruce Murtagh, Michael Saunders,and Margaret Wright in Stanford’s Departmentof Operations Research. Programs such as
MINOS™, NPSOL™, and SNOPT™ have been
and continue to be licensed for use in optimizing
radiation treatment of brain tumors, modelingcellular metabolism in the human body, energy
and greenhouse gas research, aerospace applications, and designing New Zealand’s winning
America’s Cup yacht (1990), among many otherthings.

Birth of Flow Cytometry
Prof. Leonard Herzenberg invented the fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS). Also known
as flow cytometry, the technology enables
various types of cells to be easily identified forfurther study, revolutionizing immunology andenabling stem cell research.

9

The Litton ProjectProf. H. John Shaw’s fiber optics research in thelate 1970s led to The Litton Project. This program
produced fiber optic technology, components
and devices that have been adopted by laboratories and companies worldwide.

Prof. Leonard Herzenberg in his lab

1976
Prof. Vinton Cerf and students
publish the Transmission Control
Protocol, a key component of themodern internet.

Prof. Paul Flory receives theNobel Prize in Chemistry.

Prof. Burton Richter receives theNobel Prize in Physics.

Prof. Martin Hellman, with PhD
candidates Whitfield Diffie andRalph Merkle, invents public key
cryptography, a tool in use today
to secure trillions of financialtransactions daily.

1978

NIH grants Stanford licensing
rights for Recombinant DNA
technique.

1979

Prof. Avram Goldstein discovers
dynorphin, a brain chemical
200 times more powerful thanmorphine.

1980sComing of age

T

he mass-market availability of personal computers and mobile phones with accessto the Global Positioning System (GPS) had a dramatic effect on every aspect ofsociety. A new tool for measuring DNA called polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
would revolutionize molecular biology, medical diagnostics, and even ecology as it helped
scientists better understand Earth’s genetic biodiversity. Magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) was introduced, providing a way to generate images of soft tissue without the useof radiation.
Fluorescent Phycobiliproteins
Phycobiliproteins are highly fluorescent proteinsthat occur naturally in certain types of bacteria andalgae. Profs. Lubert Stryer and Alexander Glazer(UC Berkeley) with postdoc fellow Vernon Oi
developed Fluorescent Tandem Phycobiliprotein
Conjugates, a powerful class of reagents for
sorting and identifying cells, including cancer cells.
Multidimensional fluorescence analysis has enabled a better understanding of interactive cellular
systems, and is still used extensively by biotech
researchers all over the world.

I have worked withOTL on numerous
inventions during
my career at
10

Stanford andhave valued theirexpertise andfriendly support
throughout thistime.”—Prof. Michelle
Calos

Fiber Optic Amplifier
In the early 1980s, Prof. Michel Digonnet
invented the fiber optic amplifier, a component
that amplifies a light signal inside a fiber. The
fiber optic amplifier played a crucial role in thetelecommunications revolution of the mid1990s, including development of the high-speed
Internet. During the eighties and beyond, Prof.
Digonnet disclosed dozens of photonics and fiber
optics inventions to OTL.

1981

Prof. Ronald Levy develops
mAb therapy for cancer.

Selective Amplification of Target
Polynucleotide Sequences
Prof. John Boothroyd and postdoc fellows Larry
Burg and Philippe Pouletty developed an alternative to Polymerase Chain Reaction for multiplying
the number of copies of a target polynucleotide
sequence. This method of nucleic acid testing is
rapid, highly specific and extremely sensitive, withthe added benefit that the amplification is all performed at 37°C. The technology is currently being
used to detect Zika virus and SARS-CoV-2.

1982

Prof. Bruce Reitz performs the firstheart-lung transplant in the U.S.

Sun Microsystems is foundedby electrical engineering doctoral
student Andreas Bechtolsheim,
along with Scott McNealy, Vinod
Khosla, Bill Joy.

Silicon Graphics is foundedby Prof. James Clark.

Knowledge Systems Labs
is founded by Profs.
Ed Feigenbaum and Bruce
Buchanan.

MIPS and A New Golden Age forMicroprocessors

Atoms on the surface of boron nitride, 2.5 Å apart

Atomic Force Microscopy
In the mid-1980s, Prof. Calvin Quate and IBM
collaborators Gerd Binnig and Christoph Gerberintroduced the atomic force microscope (AFM).
AFM transformed the nanotech industry andnanofabrication through its ability to deliver 3D
images on the order of fractions of a nanometer,more detailed than the best optical microscopesof the time, all while retaining the gentleness of
the acoustic microscope.

Prof. and past president John Hennessy and Prof.
David Patterson, his collaborator at UC Berkeley,pioneered the reduced instruction set computer(RISC), implementing the design principle ofsimplified instructions and providing a systematically quantitative approach in evaluating
computer architectures. Additionally, Hennessy
initiated the Microprocessor without Interlocked
Pipelined Stages (MIPS) collaboration project.
Inspired by ideas coming out of the project andthe promising commercial potential of RISC,
Hennessy, along with grad student Chris Rowen
and Stanford alum Skip Stritter, co-founded
MIPS Computer Systems in 1984. A fablesssemiconductor design company, it was one of
the first startups developing RISC microprocessors based on the MIPS architecture. Most of
the microprocessors powering mobile and IoTapplications are built on these faster, more energy-efficient approaches. As such, it occupies animportant place in the history of Silicon Valley.
Both Hennessy and Patterson received the Turing
Award for their enduring impact on the microprocessor industry.

Stanford computer scientists
John Shott, John Hennessy
and James D. Meindl (left toright) brainstorm about the
MIPS project11

bodiesFunctional

Antibodies

Prof. Leonard Herzenberg and senior research
associate Vernon Oi, in collaboration with Prof.
Sherie Morrison (Columbia), invented a technique for producing functional antibodies. Their
ibodies [FuncAbs™]
patent for functional antibody technology is one
PLICATIONS
of FUNCTIONAL
OTL’s topAPPLICATION
royalty generators and the basis ofNC, FACS, ELISA
Blocks binding of HIV-1 gp120 protein to CD4 and also blocks
medicines
for rheumatoid
arthritis, Crohn’s
HLA Class II rosetteformation.
NC, FACS, WB
Blocks bindingof ICAM-1 andICAM-3intoyoung
LFA-1 at 5-10µg/ml. anddisease,respiratory
illnesschildren,NC, FACS
Blocks homotypic neutrophil and monocyte (FMLP induced)
clot
prevention.
aggregation.
NC, FACS

Blocks binding of complexed IgG to CD16.

NC, FACS

Blocks binding of ICAM-1 and ICAM-3 to LFA-1.

NC, FACS

Inhibits
Ig secretion.
1983B-lymphocyte differentation and induced
1984

NC, FACS, WB

Inhibits binding to CD23.

NC, FACS

Blocks homophilic interaction and heterophilic transendothelial
migration.

Prof. Mark Davis publishes seven
Alumna Sally
Ride becomes theNC, FACS
Blocks immune complex binding.
papers in Nature over the course
first American woman in space on
NC, FACS, ELISA,
Blocks MLR, sgp39 induced human B cell proliferation andofthe year characterizing the first
the
Space
ShuttleChallenger.
C, WB
T cell dependent B cell differentiation.
T-cell receptor genes.
NC, FACS, WB

Blocks binding of HA to CD44.

NC, FACS

Blocks VLA-4 binding to VCAM-1. It can be used to aid in
purification of FoxP3+ Treg cells.

NC, FACS

Blocks binding of CD11a (LFA-1) to CD50 (ICAM-3).

NC, FACS, ELISA, WB

Inhibits CD54 binding to LFA-1.

NC, FACS, ELISA

Inhibits CD54 binding to LFA-1.

NC, FACS

Inhibits HLA-DR mediated T cell cytotoxicity.

NC, FACS, WB

Blocks binding of FcγRI to immunoglobulin opsonized cells.

Induces IL-8 production by U-937 cells.

Alumni Leonard Bosack andSandy Lerner co-found Cisco
Systems.

1988

1989

Prof. Irving Weissman andcolleagues identify a panelof antibodies that can beused to isolate blood-forming
stem cells from mice, a feat that
had never been achieved before.

Prof. Eugene Butcher discovers
a receptor that guides white blood
cells into the peripheral lymph
nodes.

1990sgame changers

As the twentieth century drew to a close, transformative technologies continued
to proliferate. The introduction of the World Wide Web, easily-accessible webbrowsers and Internet search engines gave people immediate access to more
information. The world was becoming more fast-paced and interconnected. The Hubble
Telescope, launched in 1990, revolutionized astronomy.
shared the blueprints and protocols on the Web
so that other academic researchers could use it
internally for their own research. These robotic
devices have now become standard equipment inlife science labs throughout the world.

Advancing High Speed
Internet Access

12

The colors on the microarrayshow which genes in asample are active

DNA Microarray
Developed by Prof. Patrick O. Brown, DNA microarray technology is a tool used for large-scalestudies of gene expression. In 1997, Brown andhis colleagues published the first whole-genome
microarray study of gene expression by placing
the whole yeast genome on a microarray. Shortly
after developing the technology, the Brown lab

In the early 1990s, fiber optic cable was theindustry standard for transmitting data; but there
was growing consumer demand for bandwidth.
During this time, Prof. John Cioffi and graduate
students Jacky Chow, Peter Chow, Minnie Ho,and Huiling Lou were developing technology
related to discrete multi-tone modulation thatwould then be used in DSL, ADSL, VDSL, G.fast,and G.mgfast. The discovery’s continued use has
led to data rates as high as 10 Gbps on a twisted
pair. The VDSL patent has been used globally inhigh-speed internet access, including all vectored
DSLs, most Wi-Fi, and 4G/5G wireless basestations.

1991

1992

1994

Prof. Martin Fisher andentrepreneur Nick Moon foundApproTEC (now KickStart
International) to lift African
farmers out of poverty with
inexpensive agriculturalequipment.

Alumna Mae Jemison orbits the
Earth for nearly eight days on theSpace Shuttle Endeavour.

Prof. Ron Davis becomes
Director of the Stanford DNA
Sequencing and Technology
Center.

Industrial Contracts Office
Established
Before ICO came into existence, allsponsored research and related agreements were handled by Stanford’s
Sponsored Projects Office (SPO), withsome help from OTL on heavy-duty
intellectual property issues. However,in the mid-nineties, while Kathy Ku was
Director of OTL and acting director for
SPO, she noticed a significant growth inindustry-related issues. Thus in 1998,
ICO was born to specialize in industry
contracts, with Glennia Campbell, ICO’s
current director, as the first attorney
hired. ICO grew from one attorney to its
current complement of 11 full-time employees handling a wide range of industry
and non-industry related contracts.

Student inventors of the PageRank Algorithm Larry Page (left) and Sergey Brin (right)

PageRank Algorithm
Larry Page and Sergey Brin were graduate
students in Stanford’s Department of Computer
Science in the mid-1990s conducting research on
World Wide Web search methodologies. Searchtechnologies at the time were ineffective andpoor at producing reasonable results. That problem was only getting worse because the numberof pages on the WWW was growing exponentially. Larry and Sergey’s research at Stanford led
to an invention entitled “Improved Text Searchingin Hypertext Systems.” OTL filed a patentapplication on the invention and, with Larry
and Sergey’s help, attempted to find a licensee
to commercialize the invention. After getting
lukewarm responses or no interest from existing
search companies, Larry and Sergey approachedOTL about licensing a startup that they would
co-found. Because it was the right thing to do forthe technology, OTL green-lighted the exclusive
license to their startup, Google. As a result, Larry
and Sergey ended up creating something thathas become an indispensable part of our lives.

Most of thesedevices have

OTL’s first significant equity returnoccurred in 1994 upon the acquisition of
Risk Management Solutions. The equity
was received as partial consideration
for a license to software developed at
Stanford for assessing risk from natural
disasters. In that same year, Stanford instituted an equity policy that allowed OTL
to take equity as partial consideration
for a license, upon approval, with theentire institutional share of the proceeds
going to a Research and Fellowship fundadministered by the Dean of Research.
The financial success of that policy has
led to the support of graduate students
and research at Stanford, yet anotherway that OTL contributes to the overall
mission of Stanford.

important . . . someright away, whileothers had to wait
for their field tocatch up with them.”—Prof. H. John Shaw
1997 OTL Brainstorm
newsletter

1996

Prof. Stan Cohen and UC Berkeley
Prof. Herbert Boyer receive theLemelson-MIT prize.

OTL Equity

become really1997

Prof. Douglas Osheroff receives
the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Prof. Steven Chu receives theNobel Prize in Physics.

Alumnus Reed Hastings andentrepreneur Marc Randolph
co-found Netflix.

13

2000srapid growthMajor advances in battery research would lead to the introduction of hybrid
vehicles. Mass production of photovoltaic systems for generating electric
power steered a path toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The
popularity of smartphones and text messaging surged. Robotics continued to develop,
especially telerobotics in surgery. Tissues and organs created entirely by 3-D printing
were being successfully implanted in humans. The Human Genome Project, initiated in
1990, was completed in April 2003. During the 2000s the FDA approved 244 new drugs.
Help for Celiac Disease
From 2001 to 2007, Prof. Chaitan Khosla andcolleagues researched an enzyme that caninactivate the toxic components of gluten in thedigestive system, resulting in several inventions
for treating Celiac Disease. The technology was
licensed, giving patients access to a treatment
alternative that didn’t entail severe dietary
restrictions.

14

Advances in Software Technology

Prof. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir,global leader in advancing
techniques for molecularimaging and early cancer
detection

Molecular Imaging
Under Prof. Sanjiv Gambhir, the Molecular
Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS) was established as an interdisciplinary program to bring
together scientists and physicians who share
a common interest in developing state-of-theart imaging technology and molecular imaging
assays for studying intact biological systems.

In the early 2000s, Prof. Chris Stolte and colleagues developed software that allowed for theinteractive visualization of data in large databases, resulting in the Polaris software platform.
Stolte, along with Stanford Business School
alum Christian Chabot and Prof. Pat Hanrahan,co-founded Tableau Software in 2003 (acquiredby Salesforce in 2019). Prof. Dawson Engler andcolleagues developed a method for detecting
errors in complicated software systems, and in
2002 he co-founded Coverity, Inc. (acquiredby Synopsys in 2014.) Taken together, theseinventions became some of OTL’s top revenue
generators during the 2000s and beyond.

2000

2001

2002

2003

Prof. Roger Kornberg describes the
structure of the RNA polymerase
protein, unlocking an importantpiece of the puzzle on how
information is transferred fromgenes to proteins.

Prof. K. Barry Sharpless receives
the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Prof. Mark Kay develops RNA
inhibition technique for switching
off genes in mice.

The Clark Center opens, providing
a home for many faculty members
affiliated with the Bio-X programand becoming a nucleus forscientific and technologicalcollaborations across the
Stanford community.

Prof. Roeland Nusse isolates agroup of proteins called Wnts
that help keep stem cells in their
youthful state.

Leading Research in Functional Genomics

Profs. Amato Giaccia and Jennifer CochranTargeted Therapy for
Ovarian Cancer
Researchers in Prof. Jennifer Cochran’s lab andProf. Amato Giaccia’s lab collaborated in engineering a novel protein therapeutic to inhibit tumor growth and metastasis, which is the process
by which aggressive tumors spread throughout
the body. Aravive Biologics, founded by Prof.
Giaccia, is leveraging this research as a targeted
therapy (AVB-500) for ovarian cancer. Whenleft untreated, ovarian cancer is the deadliest
reproductive cancer in women, especially womenover the age of 50. Women with advanced stage
ovarian cancer who receive standard-of-careoften relapse and develop drug resistance. The
engineered protein works by starving a cell signaling pathway known as GAS/AXL, which drives
tumor progression. Clinical trials for ovarian andclear cell renal cancer are currently in progresswith plans for further evaluation in additional
tumor types, including acute myeloid leukemia,
triple-negative breast cancer and pancreaticcancer.

2004

2006

Stanford Cancer Center opens.

Prof. Andrew Fire receives theNobel Prize in Medicine.

Prof. Leonard Herzenberg receives
the Kyoto Prize.

In 2000 the Stanford Genome Technology Center(SGTC) shifted its focus from DNA sequencing
to the study of functional genomics, particularly
the human genome. Under the direction of Prof.
Ron Davis, SGTC researchers have developed
many cost-effective, cutting-edge technologies
that have been patented and transferred to thecommercial sector. By the mid-2000s the SGTC
had spun off ten companies, including ParAllele
Bioscience (acquired by Affymetrix in 2005),
Ingenuity Systems (acquired by QIAGEN in 2013)
and NextBio (acquired by Illumina in 2013). In
2011 Davis was awarded the Gruber Genetics
Prize for his groundbreaking discoveries in molecular genetics and genomics. Prof. Lars Steinmetz
joined Davis as Co-Director of the SGTC in 2013.
As of April 2021 the Center reported a total of 30
spinoff companies and 60 issued patents.

Discoveries arisingfrom artistic andscientific curiosity
have beensuccessfully
promoted by

ICO Master Agreements
By the end of the decade ICO had established many important Master Agreementswith leading industry partners that are stillongoing in 2021. Boeing has sponsoredProf. Olav Solgaard’s research in optical
networks and sensor systems for aircraft,and provides funding to other Stanford
researchers. Volkswagen provides support
to Prof. Fritz Prinz’s lab in fuel cell research.
Varian sponsors work in the Radiation
Oncology department and has collaborations with SLAC National Accelerator Lab.
The Philips-sponsored inventions from Prof.
Craig Levin’s lab are centered on improving the attenuation correction for positronemission tomography (PET). GE sponsors
medical and biomedical imaging researchin the Departments of Radiology andElectrical Engineering, including MRI, digital
x-ray, computed tomography, ultrasoundand molecular imaging.

Prof. Roger Kornberg receives theNobel Prize in Chemistry.

OTL and it’s apartnership thatover the decades hashelped sustain thefreedom to pursue
interdisciplinary
research at thecenter.”—Prof. Chris Chafe

2007

2009

Prof. Gary Steinberg discovers
that stem cells transplanted into
the brains of rats navigate toward
areas damaged by stroke.

Prof. Irving Weissman identifies
the stem cell that gives rise to
bladder cancer and shows how
the cell uses the “don’t eat me”
signal.

15

2010stransitionT

he 2010s ushered in groundbreaking advances in medicine such as CRISPR/Cas9
for editing living organisms, the synthetic genome, antiretroviral therapy forHIV, immunotherapy drugs for treating cancer, the artificial pancreas, the Ebola
vaccine, and transcatheter aortic valve replacement. Virtual assistant devices, drones
and the self-driving automobile made significant progress. Scientists at CERN discovered
the elusive Higgs boson particle, confirming that particles acquire mass as describedby the Higgs mechanism and filling in the final missing piece of the Standard Model ofModern Physics.
ICO Contract Funds EV Battery Research

Girls from India exploringwith the Foldscope

16

At Stanford, it
represents a badgeof honor to createa startup. Not all
institutions are that
supportive, and I’mreally appreciativeof the Stanford
support.”—Prof. Bill Robinson

FoldscopeProf. Manu Prakash and graduate student
Jim Cybulski invented an ultra-affordable, easily
assembled paper microscope with 140x magnification and 2 micron resolution. With thesecapabilities, it’s possible to view extremely tiny
bacteria, blood cells, single-celled organisms andmore. As of 2020, over one million Foldscope
units have been distributed to classrooms andcommunities throughout the world.

A major challenge in designing ultra-fastcharging batteries for electric vehicles is findinga fast charging method that doesn’t damage thebattery. Both the time per experiment and thenumber of experiments make this optimization
a long, expensive process. Profs. Stefano Ermonand William Chueh received funding to study
this problem through an agreement completed
by the Industrial Contracts Office and the Toyota
Research Institute. The researchers designed
machine learning-based programs to reduce thetotal testing time. One program predicts the final
lifetime of the battery, while Bayesian optimization learns from its experiences to quickly findthe best protocols to test. Using this AI approach, the researchers were able to reduce thetesting process from almost two years to 16 days.

2010

2011

2012

2013

The Li Ka Shing Center for
Learning and Knowledge opens.

Prof. Patrick Brown founds
Impossible Foods, Inc., a company
that develops plant-based
substitutes for meat products.

Prof. Stephen Quake
receives the Lemelson-MIT prize.

Prof. Thomas Sudhof
receives the Nobel Prizein Medicine.

Stanford engineers build
a computer using carbon
nanotubes.

Prof. Brian Kobilka
receives the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry.

Prof. Michael Levitt
receives the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry.

Prof. Karl Deisseroth develops
CLARITY, a process that
renders brain tissue from micetransparent.

Prof. Carolyn Bertozzi receives theLemelson-MIT prize.

Soft Growing Robot
Researchers in Prof. Allison Okamura’s lab developed a robot that grows. Based on the mechanism of eversion, the flexible robot turns insideout as material emits from the tip, potentiallygrowing to a very long length. Using software,
the researchers can guide the robot along convoluted paths in difficult-to-reach places. While
the robot body may remain in one place, the tip
continues to grow. Applications include searchand rescue, lifting heavy objects, and delivering
sensors or life-saving materials into tight or
dangerous spaces. The robot could also advance
medical procedures. Rather than pushing a tube
through the body, this soft robot could growwithout dragging on delicate tissue.

Seizure Detection Device
Music Prof. Chris Chafe and Neurology Prof.
Josef Parvizi developed a technology for a wearable device that offers instant electroencephalography (EEG) recording and interpretationand helps physicians detect seizures. The Brain
Stethoscope function simplifies interpretationof EEG results by converting brain signals intosound, which allows physicians to hear changes
in brain activity and make instant diagnoses of
seizures.

Efficient Isolation of Human
Immunoglobulin Genes
Developed by Prof. Bill Robinson, thishigh-throughput DNA sequencing method
allows researchers to isolate immunoglobulin genes from human B cells. The technology
enables the generation of human monoclonal
antibodies with high specificity and affinity. In
2000, Prof. Robinson founded the company,
Atreca, which is using the technology to discoverantibodies in cancer patients in order to create
novel cancer immunotherapeutics.

2014

Prof. Maryam Mirzakhani receives
the Fields Medal in Mathematics.

Prof. Patrick Hanrahan receives
an Academy Award for TechnicalAchievement.

Prof. W.E. Moernerreceives the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry.

Prof. Tony Wyss-Coray findsthat infusing the blood of young
mice into the brains of old micerecharges the older brains.

Boppli™ monitoring device
shown with neonatal infant

Artificial Skin
Researchers in Prof. Zhenan Bao’s lab developed an artificial skin composed of a nanoscalepressure sensor sealed inside layers of plastic.
Sensors inside the plastic skin provide continuous physiological monitoring of heart rate, diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure andarterial stiffness without the pain and risk of anarterial line. Licensed by PyrAmes (co-foundedby Prof. Bao and Dr. Xina Quan), the technology
received Breakthrough Device Designation by
the FDA for continuously monitoring the bloodpressure of babies in the neonatal intensive careunit. PyrAmes will offer wearable devices to provide accurate, non-invasive, and wireless bloodpressure monitoring for patients of all ages, fromnewborns to seniors.

17

ATAC-seq
Developed in 2012 by Profs. William Greenleaf
and Howard Chang, ATAC- seq (Assay forTransposase-Accessible Chromatin with highthroughput sequencing) analyzes chromatin
accessibility at the single cell level. This breakthrough technology provides insights into cell
types and states, allowing deeper understandingof gene regulatory mechanisms.

2016

2019

Prof. Calvin Quate,
with Gerd Binnig and Christopher
Gerber, receives the Kavli Prize.
for developing the Atomic ForceMicroscope.

Stanford Redwood City campus
opens in March; the new Stanford
Hospital opens in November.

Prof. Karl Deisseroth receives the
Kyoto Prize in Biotechnology.

Stanford launches the Institutefor Human-Centered Artificial
Intelligence; Stanford and SLAC
launch the Q-Farm initiative toexpand research in quantum
science.

2020

Moving Forward int h e Y e a r o f t h e Pa n d e m i c

T

he COVID-19 pandemic dominated 2020, impacting all aspects of society. Previous
research on coronavirus vaccines helped to accelerate the initial developmentof new COVID-19 vaccines. Other breakthroughs included the use of artificial
intelligence/AI to predict protein folding for drug development, advances in robotic lowerlimb exoskeletons for rehabilitating or augmenting walking and running, and the adventof programmable synthetic biological organisms known as “xenobots.” By the end of 2020
it became apparent that major automakers will soon be introducing prototypes of electricvehicles powered by solid-state batteries, with commercialization projected to increaseover the coming decade.
COVID-19 Innovations and Pipeline
The coronavirus
pandemic has

18

reinforced the vitalrole that universities
like Stanford have toplay in our modern
world. The missionof developing anddisseminatingknowledge has
never been moreurgent.”—President Marc
Tessier-Lavigne,
open letter tothe Stanfordcommunity,
May 2020

When the World Health Organization declared
COVID-19 a global pandemic in early March,
OTL responded quickly by co-developing the
COVID-19 Technology Access Framework with
Harvard and MIT to incentivize technology transfer strategies that facilitate rapid, equitable access to university innovations. The Framework’s
guidelines establish patenting and licensing principles that allow critically important technologies
for preventing, diagnosing, or treating COVID-19
infections to be expeditiously deployed for thegreatest public benefit. The Framework encourages the use of rapidly executable, non-exclusive, royalty-free licenses with a commitment to
distribute the resulting products in a manner that
ensures broad access. There are 24 institutionalsignatories, and AUTM, along with several otheruniversities, that implemented similar guidelines
during the pandemic.

Transparent Air Filter for High-Efficiency
PM2.5 Capture
Profs. Yi Cui and Steven Chu formulated a transparent PM2.5 air filter using electrospinning,a technique that uses strong electric fields tostretch polymer solutions or droplets into extremely thin fibers. Originally developed for use
in window screens to combat air pollution, thetechnology is now also being used by 4C Air—
co-founded by Cui and Chu—for high-efficiency
KN95 face masks.

2020

Jan 9

WHO announces mysterious virus
in Wuhan, China.

Feb 24

OTL receives first
COVID-related invention
disclosure.

March 11WHO declares COVID-19
a global pandemic.

COVID-19 Diagnostics
The COVID-19 global pandemic exposed thecritical need for rapid, inexpensive, point-ofcare diagnostics. Researchers in Prof. Jennifer
Dionne’s lab developed a handheld technologythat uses optical characterization to rapidly andquantitatively measure extracted viral-RNA
target binding or antibody binding to nanofabricated platforms. The invention detects extracted
viral- RNA gene sequences from the SARS- CoV2 genome that encode for various types of proteins. The technology can also be used for otherviral or bacterial infections.

Prototype of hand-held device (left) and schematic illustrating optical characterization process
to detect extracted viral-RNA gene sequences from the SARS-CoV-2 genome (right)

COVID-19 Vaccines, Therapeutics,
Other Tools
Motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis,
Stanford researchers led by Profs. Rhiju Das
and Maria Barna developed a portfolio of
RNA-based vaccine innovations, therapeutics,
tools, and methods. These technologies advance the rational design of shelf-stable andrapidly deployable mRNA vaccines and include
an unprecedented database of RNA structures,
best-in-class computational tools, and optimized
methods of synthesis and assessment.

Optimizing RNA-Based Therapeutics

High-efficiency, high fidelity, robust productionof mRNAs is essential for developing RNA-based
therapeutics. Researchers in the Barna Lab havediscovered that the SARS-CoV-2 5’ untranslated
region (5’-UTR) can be repurposed for enabling
optimal expression of proteins and enhanced
stability when producing mRNA vaccines.
19

Eterna Enterprise

Developed in the Das lab, “Eterna” is an online
application that integrates RNA folding algorithms, a video game interface, and associatedcomputational methods to revolutionize vaccine
design and RNA structure prediction. The newinvitation-only version of the platform, EternaEnterprise, allows selected participants to work
confidentially on problems, such as designing
improved mRNA vaccines, that can be translated to clinical trials by industry partners andother collaborators. The data and designs EternaEnterprise users generate may be used to develop improved mRNA vaccines immediately for
the COVID-19 pandemic.

AprilProf. Andrea Goldsmith
becomes the first woman
to win the Marconi Prize.

April

Release of Technology
Access Framework with Harvard
and MIT.

2020

Moving Forward int h e Y e a r o f t h e Pa n d e m i c

Covering New Ground with Forty Seven

20

Forty Seven, a Stanford licensee co-founded by Profs. andco-inventors Irving Weissman and Ravindra Majeti, wasacquired by Gilead for $4.9B in April 2020. While the financial
aspects generated a good deal of press, the most exciting partof this story is the success of the science and the opportunity
for a biopharmaceutical company with experience in developing FDA-approved drugs to realize the potential of thetechnology to treat a wide variety of cancer types, with an
initial focus on solid and hematological cancers. The CD47
cell receptor was discovered by Prof. Weissman in the 1980s,
as a fundamental surface protein used by cells to signal “don’t
eat me” to macrophages. Cancer exploits the CD47 biology
to cause the body’s own immune system to no longer recognize the cells as cancerous. By diminishing the exposed CD47
proteins on a cancer cell’s surface using a variety of methods
such as antibody attachment, it is possible to again allow
the macrophages to recognize the cells as cancerous and todestroy them via phagocytosis. This is a mechanism that isextremely broad in different cancer types and could lead tonumerous therapies.
The work at Stanford to understand and develop therapies
that exploit the CD47 pathway, and lay a solid groundworkfor later commercialization, was partly the result of new
approaches taken by the Weissman group and by OTL. These
new approaches were important for the later success of
Forty Seven and its integration into a major pharmaceuticalcompany like Gilead.
A prolific inventor, Prof. Weissman understood the longtranslational path from “bench to bedside” that an academic
discovery would require. He believed that the discoveries

related to CD47 needed to be nurtured within the academic
environment for an extended period, to develop sufficientunderstanding and tools to exploit the pathway for cancer
therapeutics. That included a long phase of fundamental
science that started with an NIH-funded grant in 1985. The
first patent was not filed until 2005, once the mechanisms
had been elucidated to the point that therapeutic approaches
could be defined.
As recounted by Gregg Kyle, a former Senior Licensing
Associate who managed this intellectual property (IP)
portfolio, OTL’s close collaboration with Weissman group
was one of the first intentional efforts to build up a large andcoherent body of IP that would provide strong protection for acommercialization partner. According to Gregg, OTL sought IP
strategy advice from industry experts and provided guidance
to the inventors on actions that could be taken to create thestrongest possible patents. He described this as one of thecloser hands-on relationships that OTL had ever had witha research group at Stanford, a collaboration that led to aportfolio of 52 total inventions.
In 2015, after CIRM had awarded a $6.5M grant to Stanford
to begin clinical testing of one of several technologies in
the portfolio, various factors came together making it anopportune time to begin commercial efforts. Prof. Weissman,
together with Prof. Ravindra Majeti, led the way as foundersof Forty Seven, taking a license from Stanford to 31 inventions,with 5 more being added thereafter. Gilead is now conducting
clinical trials of the first potential product from the Stanford
portfolio, including a Phase 3 trial for myelodysplastic
syndrome, as well as two different Phase 1b/2 trials for acute
myeloid leukemia and for diffuse large B cell lymphoma.

2020

June 11

Stanford President
Marc Tessier-Lavigne
receives the Gruber
Neuroscience Prize.

June 25

Stanford’s first license fora COVID-19 technology
is signed with licensee
Ocean Biomedical.

High-Potential Innovations Translation (HIT) FundO

TL was founded with a business-focused model totransfer technology for society’s use and benefit andto generate unrestricted income to help the University
further its research and education mission.

Its mantra has always been “Do what’s bestfor the technology” and flexibility has been thehallmark of its interactions with inventors andcompanies. Despite the solid foundation of
the OTL enterprise and its vast experience inlicensing, there is still the ever-present wicked
problem called the Valley of Death whichkeeps most university innovations on laboratory benches rather than in factory productionlines.

across campus and is well-positioned to fill thegaps and needs that aren’t being addressed by
the existing translational programs. It is withthis unique perspective that the OTL is launching the High-Potential Innovations Translation(HIT) Fund to increase the number of Stanford
innovations that can have a significant positive
impact in society. A particular emphasis will beplaced on supporting projects that align with
Stanford’s Long Range Vision.

Stanford has been able to partially address thisissue through a number of entrepreneurshipand translational research funding programs.
However, most are focused on a particular
School’s or Institute’s research area. For example, SPARK and BioDesign (in the School of
Medicine) are focused on healthcare, whereas
the Precourt Institute’s TomKat Innovation
Transfer and Woods Institute are focused on
the environment.

The experiences from within Stanford and peer
institutions’ entrepreneurship and translational funding programs, as well as prior OTL
programs, are informing the new campus-wide
funding program. The HIT Fund will provide
funding grants and mentoring to shepherd
entrepreneurial teams with high potential
innovations along a rigorous track that includes
an OTL-facilitated program with a Lean Startup
orientation.

As a University administrative unit under the
Dean of Research Office, OTL has broad visibility and connections to all areas of research

The target is for the HIT Fund to issue a Call for
Proposals by academic year 2021-22, open to
all Schools on campus.

October 12

Profs. Paul Migrom andRobert Wilson receive
the Nobel Prize in
Economics.

21

Year in Review
L i c e n s i n g fa c ts a n d f i g u r e sI

n FY2020, Stanford received $114M in gross royalty revenue and equity from 847
technologies, with royalties and equity ranging from $4 dollars to $67.3M dollars. 84 of
the 847 technologies generated $100,000 or more in royalties or equity. Ten inventions
received $1M or more.
While the percentage of technologies that brought in morethan $100,000 or even $1M in FY2020 increased significantly
from the previous five years, 90% of our technologies
that generate less than $100,000 in royalties are major
contributors to the steady royalty base for Stanford.

22

We evaluated 594 new technology disclosures and signed
121 new licenses. 56 of the licenses were nonexclusive, 35
were exclusive and 30 were option agreements. 42 of the
121 agreements were with Stanford startups and 23 of them
involved equity.

Stanford’s royalty-sharing policy provides for the distributionof cash net royalties (gross royalties less 15% for OTL’s
administrative expenses, minus direct expenses) to inventors,
their departments, and their schools. OTL distributed
personal income totaling $10.14M to 978 inventors. Stanford
departments received $9.55M and schools received $8.35M
after the University assessed an infrastructure charge on theirshares of royalty income.
Our equity holdings in 18 companies were liquidated, which
generated $73M. Stanford also paid 44 other organizations$3.25M for jointly-owned technologies for which Stanford haslicensing responsibility.

in gross royalty revenue fromtechnologies

Filing and maintaining patents for Stanford’s large portfolio
of inventions is expensive. We spent $14.57M in legal
expenses, although more than 64% of our legal expenses
were eventually reimbursed by licensees or from royalty
payments. Our operating budget for the year (excluding
patent expenses) was $9.03M.

EquityRoyalty Distribution

$114M
847

Expenses

As of August 31, 2020, Stanford held equity in 181 companies
as a result of a license agreement. During FY2020, equityfrom 18 companies was liquidated, generating $73M inrevenue.
Stanford normally sells securities acquired as part of thelicensing process promptly after they become freely tradeable
on public markets.
This year, we signed licenses that include equity with 23
companies. There were 22 new startups based primarily on
Stanford technology that received an option or license in
FY2020.
As mentioned above, we also received $73M in liquidated
equity from 18 companies.

84

technologies generated$100,000 or morein royaltIes

10

technologies generated$1M or morein royalties

New Disclosures
In FY2020, we received 594 new inventions. One of the mostchallenging responsibilities for OTL is to decide whether
or not to spend University funds on filing patents. Many
inventions do not need to have a patent in order to license thetechnology.

Stanford Trademark Enforcement Fundand Patent Expenses
The Stanford Trademark Enforcement Fund (STEF) wasestablished to support the costs associated with theprotection of the Stanford name and associated logos andtrademarks. In addition, some of the funding is used to provide
support to OTL. STEF is currently funded sufficiently to cover
the original intent and the OTL will no longer be deducting
STEF fees for the foreseeable future.

PERCENTCHANGE SINCE
20152015
Percent
ChangeSince

Fig. 1: LICENSING trends
80%
80
60%
60

New technology disclosures

40%
40

New technology disclosures withindustry sponsor, foundation, CIRM,
BioHub, PICI, HHMI, VA
Income-producing technologies

20%
20

Active companies in which OTL
has equity
New licenses

0%0Inventors receiving distributions

-20%
-20

2015
2015

2016
2016

2017
2017

YEAR

Year

2018
2018

2019
2019

2020
2020

The figure above shows trends for OTL-Licensing over 5 years, with the ratio ofchange relative to 2015.

594

new technology
disclosures121

new license
agreements{

56

NON-EXCLUSIVE35EXCLUSIVE30

OPTION AGREEMENTS

42

agreements were with
Stanford startups

23

Year in Review
I n d ustri al co nt racts o ffi c e

T

he Industrial Contracts Office (ICO) is a group within OTL that specializes in research
agreements with industry. In FY2020, ICO finalized a total of 153 new industry
sponsored research agreements (SRAs) where companies fund and sometimes
collaborate on research projects at Stanford and 219 amendments to existing SRAs.

The School of Medicine accounted for half of these
agreements with 74 new industry-funded research
agreements. The Department of Medicine was home to thelargest number of new industry research agreements, with70 new SRAs. The Pathology Department in the Schoolof Medicine had 5 new SRAs, Radiology accounted for 8,
Biomedical Data Science accounted for 6, and Pediatrics had 7
new SRAs.
24

The School of Engineering accounted for nearly half of thetotal SRAs, with 63 new industry-funded research agreements
and 65 amendments to existing SRAs. The ElectricalEngineering Department was home to the largest number of
new Engineering industry research agreements, with 13 new
SRAs; Chemical Engineering had 11, Mechanical Engineering
had 9; Computer Science accounted for 9; and Materials
Science and Engineering accounted for 9 new SRAs.
ICO provided expertise and guidance on intellectual property
terms and Stanford policy to faculty, staff and partnerorganizations on an additional 460 transactions in FY2020,
up from 354 in FY 2019.

153

NEW INDUSTRY-SPONSOREDRESEARCH AGREEMENTS

Industrial Affiliates Programs
ICO also handles Industrial Affiliates Program approvals,
renewals and related agreements. During the year, 74
programs brought in a total of $38.4M. SystemX in the
School of Engineering continued to be the largest program,with $5.7M in funding.
Eight new Affiliates Programs were approved in the pastfiscal year, including two in the School of Medicine, three in
the School of Law, and three in the School of Engineering:
School of Medicine• Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine & Imaging (AIMI)• Canary Center & PHIND at Stanford Industry Affiliate Program
School of Law• Rockdata Affiliate Program• Stanford Program in Law, Science & Technology (LST)• Rock Center for Corporate Governance Affiliate Program

74$38.4M

affiliates programs brought in

8

new affiliates programs
were approved

School of Engineering

All in all, ICO finalized 1,574 agreements in FY2020. This
includes 538 Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs);
88 Human Tissue Transfer Agreements; 86 Unfunded
Collaborations; 109 Data Transfer Agreements; 24 Equipment
Loans and a variety of other research-related agreements withcompanies.

• Future of Digital Currency Initiative• Stanford Computer Science (CS) Bridge Program• Stanford Open Virtual Assistant Lab (OVAL)

Fig. 2: Agreement trends
250%
250%

Percent
Change2015
PERCENTCHANGESince
SINCE 2015

200%
200%

Sponsored research agreements
Material transfer agreements

150%
150%

Unfunded collaborations
Data use agreements
Equipment agreements

100%
100%

Other agreements
Affiliates programs funding

50%
50%
25

0%
0%
2015

2015

2016

2016

2017

2017

2018
2018
YEAR

Year

2019

2019

2020

2020

The figure above shows trends for ICO over 5 years, with the ratio of change
relative to 2015.

1,574
ICO finalized

NEW agreements

538
new mtas

109
data useagreements

A

sincere thank you to the entire
Stanford community for the past 50
wonderful years of entrusting us withyour cutting edge innovations. OTL is honored
to be able to help Stanford researchers andtheir inventions reach beyond academia andimpact humanity for the better.
26

Considering the extraordinary challenges ofthe past year, we are grateful to everyone who
has taken on the responsibility of protecting
one another’s health, and giving the support
and cooperation needed to keep us all safe
and well. We wish you good health and wellbeing in the years ahead.

27

Stella ColicMona Wan

Shari Schuchmann

Stanford University
Office of Technology Licensing
415 Broadway Street
2nd Floor, MC 8854
Redwood City, CA 94063
Phone: (650) 723-0651

Design by Artefact Design | Cochran/Giaccia photo: Rod Searcey photography

otl.stanford.edu
www.stanford.edu/group/ico/
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