The Impact of University Technology Transfer Offices on Faculty Consulting: Decisions by Individual Inventors

This study contributes to the research on industry-university interface by analysing the effect of technology transfer offices (TTO) on faculty consulting. Using fixed effects and survival analyses, I find a 25% decrease in consulting following the establishment of technology transfer offices at US universities. This effect is smaller for the researchers engaged in consulting prior to the establishment of TTO and larger for the new entrants to consulting. My findings suggest that licensing and consulting are substitutes as the sources of additional income for scientists. This result enhances our understanding of institutional change after the Bayh-Dole Act, the incentive structures of university scientists and their contribution to private sector research.