For the sixth straight year, the University of Nebraska cracked the list of top 100 universities in the world for securing United States patents, landing 78th in 2022.
Annually produced by the National Academy of Inventors, the ranking reflects the total number of U.S. patents granted to academic institutions worldwide during the previous calendar year. Nebraska’s 45 patents include inventions from UNMC, the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
UNMC’s and UNO’s technology transfer and commercialization office, UNeMed Corp., secured 25 of those patents for university inventors.
“This is another indicator of the creative and innovative culture at UNMC,” Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, MD, said. “The work of our researchers and scientists — coupled with our licensing team and industry partners — continues to improve the lives of those in our communities and throughout the world. We look forward to further accelerating our momentum on these fronts, in the years to come.”
Among domestic institutions, the University of Nebraska’s 45 U.S. patents in 2022 ranked 50th of 57, ahead of Penn State (43 patents), Tennessee (41), Iowa State (39) and Emory (39). The University of California system led the world with 570 U.S. patents, well ahead of the No. 2 MIT’s 343 patents.
Of the patents secured by UNeMed, a remarkable 64% were licensed for further development. That includes five for Virtual Incision, a surgical robotics company built on a UNMC and UNL collaboration. UNeMed manages the patent portfolio for Virtual Incision, a Lincoln-based startup.
“We’re always intensely proud of the intellectual property that our faculty, researchers, staff and students create year-in and year-out,” UNeMed CEO and President Michael Dixon, PhD, said. “But the more essential measure for us is the portion of licenses we can secure with those patents. To be north of 60% is fantastic and speaks volumes about the high level of quality innovations coming out of Nebraska. And it gives us incredibly solid footing as we help those innovators secure the critical funding they need to further those ideas into products that can actually help improve people’s lives.”
Three more patents relate to the work of Howard Gendelman, MD, and Benson Edagwa, PhD, and were licensed to their startup company, Exavir. The core technology behind those patents is a groundbreaking approach to HIV treatment that promises to reduce therapeutic regimens to a single dose administered just once or twice per year. Current HIV treatments often require a strict program of multiple daily doses.
Last year, Exavir secured $4 million in a successful seed round and earned the Startup of the Year Award at UNeMed’s 2022 Innovation Awards.
Another UNeMed patent forms the cornerstone of RespirAI, a biomedical startup built with a technology borne from a UNO/UNMC collaboration. The technology is a wearable device that could positively impact the 15 million Americans suffering from a potentially lethal condition called COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The technology can successfully predict life threatening sudden flare-ups, or exacerbations, providing the patient enough time to seek treatment before it’s too late.
Additional UNeMed patents include a safety device for physicians that use real time x-ray technology for some procedures, a new plating system for repairing broken wrists and two patents related to highly absorptive nanofibers that could be used in developing the next generation of wound dressings.
The complete list of rankings can be found online here.
Patents are granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to the university’s technology transfer offices – UNeMed Corp. and Nutech Ventures at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln – to bring innovations in areas such as health care, agriculture, engineering, biotechnology and others to the marketplace. The result is new startup companies, jobs and university-licensed products that grow the economy and improve quality of life.
“To again be in the company of the world’s best universities is further confirmation of the quality of our faculty, the ingenuity of their ideas and the great power of our combined talents,” NU System President Ted Carter said. “I’m deeply proud of the work the University of Nebraska’s faculty, staff and students are doing every day to change lives and strengthen the economy in Nebraska and beyond.”
UNL Chancellor Rodney Bennett, EdD, said this ranking “shows the importance of closer alignment of ongoing research at UNL and UNMC.
“Reported separately, neither university could celebrate this accomplishment. Together, we show the world that Nebraska can do big things.”