Entrepreneurs, Startups, and Innovation at the University of California
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Entrepreneurs, Startups, and Innovation at the University of California August 2016 Acknowledgments Methodology The Economic Institute is deeply grateful to the many The Bay Area Council Economic Institute used three individuals who generously gave time to discuss their separate sources to compile data on startup formation programs, their campuses, their ideas, and the future of and related employment, revenue, venture capital, and entrepreneurship programs at the University of California. federal awards. We are particularly indebted to Dr. Martin Kenney and Dr. Donald Patton of UC Davis, who together with their First, the Office of Research and Graduate Studies team provided valuable data on startups generated by division of the University of California Office of the the UC system, and to Dotti Miller in the University of President (UCOP) provided the dataset used in its annual California Office of the President, whose team supported Technology Commercialization Report. This data dates the development of the data. from 1981 through June 2015 and includes all startups in STEM-related fields (science, technology, engineering, Development of this report at the Bay Area Council and mathematics) that were formed using UC-licensed Economic Institute was led by Sean Randolph, Senior technology. Campuses report these companies to UCOP Director, with support from Vice President Jeff Bellisario, as part of their fiscal-year-end reporting. Research Manager Patrick Kallerman, and Research Analyst Camila Mena. Adair Rosin, an intern with The second dataset was a university-wide spinoff firm the Institute from Brown University, assisted with the database compiled under the leadership of Dr. Martin research. Pam Winter, Senior Advisor to the Institute, Kenney at UC Davis. To be included in the database, was the copyeditor. a firm had to fulfill four criteria. The firm had to be founded by UC faculty, staff or postdocs, or by students within one year of graduation; it had to be de novo; it About the Institute had to be technology-based; and it should have grown Since 1990, the Bay Area Council Economic Institute to more than a few employees. Finally, affirmative has been the leading think tank focused on the evidence was needed that the firm had a founder who economic and policy issues facing the San Francisco/ was affiliated with the University of California. Silicon Valley Bay Area, one of the most dynamic regions in the United States and the world’s leading The Economic Institute also used a third UCOP-compiled center for technology and innovation. A valued forum dataset on startups at UC incubators. for stakeholder engagement and a respected source There were many occurrences of companies appearing of information and fact-based analysis, the Institute is in more than one of the three datasets. To avoid a trusted partner and adviser to both business leaders double counting, only one record for each company and government officials. Through its economic and was kept in the final compiled database analyzed by policy research and its many partnerships, the Institute the Economic Institute. addresses major factors impacting the competitiveness, economic development and quality of life of the region and the state, including infrastructure, globalization, science and technology, and health policy. It is guided by a Board of Trustees drawn from influential leaders in the corporate, academic, non-profit, and government sectors. The Institute is housed at and supported by the Bay Area Council, a public policy organization that includes hundreds of the region’s largest employers and is committed to keeping the Bay Area the world’s most competitive economy and best place to live. The Institute also supports and manages the Bay Area Science and Innovation Consortium (BASIC), a partnership of Northern California’s leading scientific research laboratories and thinkers. Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................... ii Part One: Measuring Impacts .............................................................. ii Part Two: Catalyzing Innovation ..........................................................iii Part One CHAPTER 1 Education, Innovation and the Economy ........................................... 3 CHAPTER 2 Measuring Startup Generation and Its Impacts ................................ 5 Inventions and Licenses ....................................................................... 5 Startups ................................................................................................ 6 Economic Impacts................................................................................ 6 Part Two CHAPTER 3 Campus Initiatives: Catalyzing Innovation Communities .................. 9 System-Wide Support ....................................................................... 10 University of California, Davis ............................................................ 14 University of California, Berkeley ....................................................... 18 University of California, San Francisco ............................................... 26 UC Hastings College of the Law ........................................................ 30 National Laboratories: Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore .................................... 31 University of California, Santa Cruz .................................................. 33 University of California, Merced ....................................................... 36 University of California, Santa Barbara .............................................. 39 University of California, Riverside ...................................................... 41 University of California, Los Angeles ................................................ 43 University of California, Irvine ............................................................ 48 University of California, San Diego .................................................... 53 CHAPTER 4 Findings and Recommendations ..................................................... 57 Entrepreneurs, Startups, and Innovation at the University of California Executive Summary The University of California system plays an important Counting only startups in STEM-related fields (sci- and growing role in California’s economy, by producing ence, technology, engineering and mathematics) that cutting edge technology and know-how through its were formed using UC-generated intellectual prop- research programs, but also by enabling and supporting erty or were founded by faculty, staff, or postdoctoral, the formation of new companies by faculty and students. graduate, or undergraduate students within one year of completing their UC affiliation, 1,267 companies were Startups are important because in the vast majority generated by the University of California between 1968 of cases they locate in California, usually close to the and June 2015, the time period covered by the data founding faculty member’s campus or to the campus used in this report. Of these companies, 622 were still from which the founding entrepreneur/CEO gradu- in business—referred to in this report as “active”—in ated. They also tend to grow in the communities where June 2015, and 603 of those still active companies were they are founded, magnifying the importance of UC’s headquartered in California. campuses to long-term job and business growth in the regions where they are located. Because of this, each The aggregate revenue reported for the 440 active campus plays an important catalytic role in local eco- companies for which information was available in each nomic development. This role varies with the age and company’s most recent fiscal year was $16,170,859,930. size of each campus, and whether or not it is located in Among the active companies 189 received Small a major urban center. Each campus, however, is play- Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small ing a distinct and growing role in moving technology Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants totaling from the laboratory to the market and in engaging the $326,139,269. These federal grant programs enable entrepreneurial energy of its faculty and students to domestic small businesses to research new technologies accelerate the process. and advance their commercialization. Venture capital investment totaling $9,812,978,018 was Part One: Measuring Impacts attracted by 268 active companies. All types of venture investment in all companies related to the University of The Bay Area Council Economic Institute used three California system—including those that are no longer separate sources to compile data on startup formation operating—totaled $16,352,978,679 since 1968. and related employment, revenue, venture capital, and federal awards. First, the Office of Research and The focus of these UC affiliated companies spanned Graduate Studies division of the University of California a range of 12 industry sectors defined by the univer- Office of the President (UCOP) provided the dataset sity’s offices of technology transfer, with the medical used in its annual Technology Commercialization therapeutics sector showing the highest concentra- Report. The second dataset was a university-wide tion, followed by software and services, research tools, spinoff firm database compiled under the leadership of electronic systems and components, medical diagnos- Dr. Martin Kenney at UC Davis. The Economic Institute tics, and medical devices. These leading categories also used a third UCOP-compiled dataset on startups