University patenting has been heralded as a symbol of changing relations
between universities and their social environments. The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980
in the USA was eagerly promoted by the OECD as a recipe for the
commercialization of university research, and the law was imitated by a number
of national governments. However, since the 2000s university patenting in the
most advanced economies has been on the decline both as a percentage and in
absolute terms. We suggest that the institutional incentives for university
patenting have disappeared with the new regime of university ranking. Patents
and spin-offs are not counted in university rankings. In the new arrangements
of university-industry-government relations, universities have become very
responsive to changes in their relevant environments