Intellectual property increases school coffers

As schools watch their endowments suffer in the current economy administrations are looking more closely at the research that their students and faculty are undertaking to see if any of it might be able to bring in some extra money.  And some schools like Purdue are finding that their intellectual property could be very valuable indeed.
According to the Journal and Courier, Purdue could be looking at an influx of millions of dollars of revenue from three new technology agreements that they have made with private companies.


"McGraw-Hill Education will license Hotseat, a Purdue-developed Web application, and sell it corporations or schools. Hotseat allows students to post comments during class using Facebook, Twitter or other social media accounts and allows everyone in the class to view those messages to further the discussion, vote or interact with one another instantly."

That web application alone is expected to bring in a few million dollars a year.
"Keith Krach, trustee chairman, said that area of revenue will be a boost along with other long-term revenue plans, such as increasing commercialization of products and shifting to a year-round campus in the next eight years."

That's a much better option than raising fees.