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October 7, 2005 New facility marks a quarter century of campus-based innovationBy Craig Davis
Twenty-five years ago, colleges and universities were seldom described as engines of economic development. Professors and researchers were seldom described as entrepreneurs. Now, as we open Purdue University's new Chao Center for Industrial Pharmacy & Contract Manufacturing, I'm struck by how much things have changed. Government officials and business leaders routinely look to college and university campuses to provide the kind of innovation and leadership vital to economic development. As its director, I understand that facilities like the Chao Center are important links between academia and economics. This new attitude is the result of one piece of legislation, and, I'm proud to say, my dad's passion for innovation and entrepreneurship. As head of Purdue's first patent office in the late 1970s, it was my dad, Ralph Davis, who sparked the creation of the legislation now known as the Bayh-Dole Act. Last week, universities, entrepreneurs, and business and community leaders across the nation celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Bayh-Dole Act. While the average citizen has probably never heard of the act, those who celebrated Bayh-Dole know that it sparked a new wave of innovation and entrepreneurship by allowing universities to retain the rights to innovations created with federal funding. Prior to the act's passage, the federal government retained the title for any invention created with the use of federal money. What impact has this had? According to Ernst & Young, in the biotech industry alone the Bayh-Dole Act has led to creation of more than 1,400 companies with more than $330 billion in market capitalization. Nearly 190,000 people work for biotech firms spawned by Bayh-Dole, helping to generate $42.7 billion in annual revenue. Closer to home, looking at Purdue, we see the act has led to the creation of 40 startup companies, 23 of which are Indiana firms. The Purdue Research Foundation's Office of Technology Commercialization holds patents on technologies being used for everything from treating cancer and detecting chemical weapons to thwarting computer hackers and producing new varieties of apples. Not bad for a piece of legislation that was virtually unknown outside certain academic and business circles. I have to admit I have a special interest in the Bayh-Dole Act for a couple of reasons. First of all, I had a front row seat in the late 1970s when Dad petitioned the federal government to allow Purdue to file patent applications and retain the rights to innovations developed there. I've often heard him describe how frustrated he was when the federal government denied his petitions. Undaunted, Dad contacted then-U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh of Indiana and made his case. Bayh agreed with Dad's argument and took up the cause. The legislation co-authored with then-Kansas Sen. Bob Dole proved to be one of Bayh's last acts in the Senate. I can't tell you how proud I am when I hear people laud Dad for his role in the creation of an act that The Economist magazine describes as "perhaps the most inspired piece of legislation to be enacted in America in the past half-century." The second reason the Bayh-Dole Act has special meaning to me is that, in many ways, it is the foundation upon which the Chao Center is built. Funded in large part by a generous gift from Watson Pharmaceuticals' founder and CEO Allen Chao and his wife, Lee-Hwa Chao, the $6.5 million Chao Center at the Purdue Research Park is one of only five university-run pharmaceutical plants in the country. Initially, the center will work with Eli Lilly and Co. as a contract manufacturer, but we expect to work with other pharmaceutical companies to provide manufacturing, testing and product development services. The spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship that makes the Chao Center so promising is a direct product of the Bayh-Dole Act. If the past is indeed prologue, we can expect the Chao Center to inspire and nurture new products and new technologies. And we can expect similar centers of innovation to continue to grow and prosper on other college and university campuses across America, generating life-saving and life-changing innovations while, at the same time, creating jobs and feeding our economy. A quarter of a century ago, such things were not expected from college campuses. Today thanks to a single piece of legislation inspired by one man's passion, we can count on it. Craig Davis is Executive Director of Purdue University's Chao Center for Industrial Pharmacy & Contract Manufacturing. |
