Published March 1998
by the Office of Research and Technology Transfer Administration
Research Organization
Fiscal year 1997 continued to be a time of great challenge and change in the University of Minnesota research enterprise. Sponsored research expenditures for fiscal year 1997 increased to $312 million, up by approximately 3 percent from 1996. Expenditures using federal funds increased by less then 1%, state and local research expenditures increased by 12 percent, sponsored expenditures from other sources, such as business and industry, associations and private foundations, increased by 7 percent. The National Institutes of Health continues to be the major source of sponsored research funding at the University of Minnesota, $124 million in 1997, followed by the National Science Foundation at $30 million. The Medical School received by far the greatest amount of research funding - $104 million. It is followed by the Institute of Technology - $65 million and School of Public Health - $35.7 million.
Fiscal year 1997 was very successful for technology transfer at the University. Sixty-six patents were granted during this time, the largest number ever in one fiscal year, and 163 technology transfer agreements were completed. Another measure of success is that 6 startup companies were established as an outcome of our faculty efforts in technology transfer. Citing just three of many notable accomplishments in our University technology transfer area:
1. Carbovir This technology is a family of carbocyclic nucleosides active against the AIDS virus. Carbovir targets HIV reverse transcriptase- a mode of action similar to AZT. While this invention, originally disclosed by Dr. Robert Vince from the College of Pharmacy to Patents and Technology Marketing in 1986, it is now reaching the final stages of clinical trials in 1998.
2. Transposon This important technology developed by Perry Hackett and two graduate students from the Department of Genetics and Cell Biology is the first transposon that is functioning in vertebrate cells. Although in its infancy, it has the potential to improve current gene transfer technology and should have impact in the areas of gene therapy, genomics and transgenic animal productions.
3. Digital Watermark Professor Ahmed Tewfik from the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science invented a new technology relating to digital and video images and audio signals. Perceptually invisible data is embedded into images or audio in an extremely robust manner. As a result of this technology, a startup company, in which the University has a founders' equity, was formed to focus on developing software and hardware products for the emerging digital media consumer in the entertainment, information and on-line services markets.
As of this writing, the "exceptional organization" designation imposed on the University by the National Institutes of Health in August 1995 remains in place, despite substantial improvements by the University in its grants management oversight. Improvements to the University's research administration processes date back to evaluations and planning begun in 1993. Recommendations from those reviews have been acted upon by project teams directed by the University's Grants Management Committee, a high-level task force appointed by President Nils Hasselmo in July 1995.
While the Grants Management project is ongoing, during the past two years, project teams have achieved results in five priority areas:
1. Refined research roles and responsibilities and are continuing to focus on establishing local and institutional oversight responsibilities.
2. Refined grants management policies and procedures as necessary.
3. Enhanced and provided training programs for faculty and administrators.
4. Continued development of an electronic grants management system (EGMS) to make it possible for faculty and administrators to prepare and process proposals electronically, complete the internal proposal routing form on the WEB and have on-line access to relevant policies, procedures, and other aids.
5. Improved the utility of the existing financial system for managing grants and contracts, by providing sponsored project financial summaries electronically and giving principal investigators and unit administrators access to project financial summaries.
The University recently provided a plan and timetable for implementing the critical revisions set form in the assessment report received from NIH in December, 1996. We anticipate that NIH will conduct a site visit during fall 1998 to verify that the corrective actions have been taken and that systems are operating effectively.
In spite of difficulties experienced with respect to the NIH and the impact this has had on our administrative procedures, the information presented in this report documents that the level and trend in sponsored activity of our faculty continues to move upward. The scholarly work of our faculty continues to be excellent. We anticipate that the improvements resulting from the Grants Management Project will substantially enhance the research climate at the University of Minnesota by making the infrastructure more supportive of research and assuring the highest of ethical standards. As the competition intensifies for the best researchers and scholars and the funding to support their endeavors, the University is well positioned to continue as a world-class research, learning, and outreach institution.
Mark Brenner
Vice President for Research and Dean, Graduate School
Edward F. Wink
Interim Associate Vice President, Research and Technology Transfer
Many of the University of Minnesota's research, teaching, and public service activities are funded by grants and contracts from external sponsors. The major sponsors are federal and State of Minnesota agencies, private foundations, associations, and industry.
This report focuses on the externally supported research, training, and public service programs administered by the Office of Research and Technology Transfer Administration (ORTTA). Excluded from most tables are noncontract funds, including departmental research funds, special federal and state appropriations for research, and student aid (totals for these categories are included in Tables 1 and 2). Also excluded are gifts to the University, which are administered and reported by the University of Minnesota Foundation and the Minnesota Medical Foundation.
This report includes a section describing activity in Patents and Technology Marketing, which has been a part of ORTTA since 1983. Called technology transfer, this facet of the University's outreach mission is becoming increasingly important, as the nation and state look to university researchers as the source of new knowledge, ideas, and technologies needed to maintain economic growth and industrial competitiveness.
In fiscal 1997, ORTTA administered $312.3 million in sponsored research, training, and public service expenditures, a 3 percent increase from fiscal 1996 funding of $304.1 million. Research expenditures comprised 79 percent of the total, or $247.3 million, an increase of 2 percent, or $4.5 million, from fiscal 1996 funding of $242.8 million. Training and public service programs constituted the remaining 21 percent, or $64.9 million.
Funding for sponsored projects in the Academic Health Center increased from $160.0 million, 53 percent of 1996 sponsored funding, to $161.6 million in fiscal 1997, 52 percent of the total. Sponsored research expenditures by the Academic Health Center increased 1 percent, from $137.4 million to $138.8 million, while training and public service expenditures increased 1 percent, from $22.5 million to $22.8 million.
Medical School sponsored expenditures decreased 1 percent, from $105.6 million to $104.3 million. Sponsored expenditures in the School of Public Health rose 3 percent, from $34.7 million to $35.7 million. The Institute of Technology experienced an increase of 7 percent, from $61.2 million to $65.4 million. The College of Education and Human Development decreased 8 percent, from $12.8 million to $11.8 million.
Federal agencies supplied $224.0 million, 72 percent of the total fiscal 1997 sponsored expenditures, up 1 percent from $222.6 in fiscal 1996. Funding from the National Institutes of Health increased from $121.8 in fiscal 1996 to $124.1 million in fiscal 1997. Funding from the National Science Foundation increased from $30.3 million to $30.5 million. Funding from the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense went up $0.8 and $2.5 million, respectively, while Department of Education funding went down $1.5 million.
State and local agencies supplied 9 percent, or $26.8 million, of fiscal 1997 sponsored expenditures at the University, compared to 8 percent and $24.0 million in 1996. State special appropriations for research in fiscal 1997 totaled $49.6 million, down from $53.3 million in 1996.
Private sources supplied 20 percent, or $61.5 million, of the fiscal 1997 sponsored expenditures, an increase from 19 percent and $57.5 million in 1996. Private sources include business and industry, associations, foundations, and individuals. Industrial sponsorship of research, training, and public service has grown from $5.1 million in fiscal 1983, 4.4 percent of that year's total, to $27.0 million in fiscal 1997, or 9 percent of the total.
Proposal activity is a good indication of how much effort is expended by faculty, staff, and administration to obtain funding for sponsored programs. Please understand that proposals submitted in one year are generally not funded until the next year, hence comparing a single year's proposals submitted and awards received does not indicate the success of proposals.
University faculty submitted 3,929 proposals requesting $698 million; that's 6 percent fewer proposals than 1996, for 2 percent more dollars. From the Academic Health Cetner, the number and amount of proposals decreased from 1,942 proposals for $349 million in fiscal 1996 to 1,928 proposals for $336 million in fiscal 1997. From the Institute of Technology, the number and amount also decreased, from 714 proposals for $147 million in 1996 to 602 proposals for $138 million.
Seventy-one percent of fiscal 1997 proposals were for new programs. Continuation proposals are usually awarded for the full amounts requested, because funding has previously been committed. New proposals, however, have a somewhat lower success rate. We cannot yet determine the success rate for fiscal 1997 proposals, since award or rejection of proposals may take more than a year. As of December 31, 1997, however, 30 percent of fiscal 1997 proposals had been awarded, for 91 percent of the amount requested.
Over the past ten years, submission of proposals by University faculty has shown a steady upward trend, increasing from 3,194 proposals in fiscal 1988 to 3,929 in fiscal 1997. Amounts requested have also increased substantially, from $546 million in fiscal 1988 to $698 million in fiscal 1997. The average annual increase over the ten years was 3 percent more proposals per year for 7 percent more dollars.
Award data represent agency commitments to fund specific research, training, and public service projects at given levels for stated periods. While these data provide interesting information on future funding, they are not reliable for year-to-year comparative analyses. For reliable conclusions regarding the University's sponsored programs, award data need to be considered in conjunction with expenditure data, which account for dollars actually spent.
In fiscal 1997, the University received 2,862 awards for a total of $343 million, a decrease of 10 percent in number and 1 percent in amount from fiscal 1996. Annual increases in awards over the past ten years have averaged 5 percent in number and 11 percent in amount.
The University of Minnesota is one of the leading recipients of federal research, training, and public service support. According to the most recent report available from the National Science Foundation (NSF) as this publication went to press, the University of Minnesota was ranked 9th among all U.S. universities in total research and development expenditures in 1995.
Another measure used to compare institutions is based on federal obligations to universities and colleges for science and engineering activities. This indicator increased from $13.7 billion to $14.3 billion from FY 1994 to FY 1995, the most recent year for which data are available. In FY 1995, the University of Minnesota ranked 9th in total federal obligations and 8th in federal R&D obligations for science and engineering. This compares to University of Washington (2nd), University of Michigan (5th), and University of Wisconsin (7th).
Technology transfer activities at the University continue to grow as companies seek new research discoveries on which to base future improvements and products.
The number of inventions disclosed dropped from 159 in fiscal 1996 to 148 in fiscal 1997. In fiscal year 1997, 66 U.S. patents were issued on our faculty inventions and assigned to the Regents of the University of Minnesota, up from 29 patents in 1996. This placed the University 12th among U.S. universities in patents issued.
While the number of patents issued to a university's faculty is a good indication of how committed the university is to seeking patent protection for its inventions, the number of technology transfer agreements (licenses) with companies is a better indication of the quality of those patented inventions. As of December 31, 1997, the University of Minnesota had a total of 283 active technology license agreements with industry, including 99 agreements with Minnesota companies, 166 with companies in other states, and 18 with foreign companies.
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