For the Indiana University Research and Technology Corp., it was a milestone year on a couple of fronts. During the 2015-2016 fiscal year, IURTC oversaw the completion of 43 licensing agreements and it ended the 2015 calendar year ranked 43rd worldwide in patents received from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The 43 licensing agreements were a 72 percent increase over the 25 licensing agreements reached during the 2014-2015 fiscal year. The rankings saw IURTC jump 43 spots from 2014, when it ranked 86th worldwide with 25 issued patents.

In a recent column for the Indianapolis Business Journal, IU President Michael A. McRobbie cited success stories from the IURTC — as well the Innovate Indiana Fund — to highlight key points about public universities and innovation:

“Ours is an unwavering commitment to creating and advancing the academic, economic, social, environmental and cultural fabric of the Hoosier state,” said McRobbie, who also chairs the IURTC. “With the generous support of our alumni and friends, we will continue to do just that, through our major contributions to economic development and our continued investment in building a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation that permeates our great state.”

During the 2015-2016 fiscal year, 102 faculty, staff and student researchers at the IU School of Medicine disclosed 73 inventions to the IURTC, which protects, markets and licenses intellectual property developed at IU so it can be translated with the aid of industry partners into commercial use.

At Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, 38 inventions were disclosed by nearly 70 faculty, staff and student researchers. At IU Bloomington, 39 inventions were disclosed by more than 70 faculty, staff and researchers.

An online form to disclose an invention to IURTC is available here.