The academic quality of public research universities is closely connected to the economic power of the states that contribute to their support. The University of California depends on the resources of the state for its core instructional funding, and the state, region and nation benefit significantly from the research, creativity and social vitality of the university. Today’s economic environment is characterized by rapid technological developments, growing global markets with intense competition, highly mobile capital, and challenging issues in human resource management and deployment. California, with its diverse, knowledge-based economy, is leading much of this development and is being impacted by it, particularly in the kinds of jobs that will be available to its citizens in the future. The fastest-growing occupations in California are those requiring more education than in the past, and without an educated workforce to fill those jobs, the economy of the state will suffer.

The new knowledge-based economy provides opportunities for universities to develop a more coherent approach to their social mission and to develop a more diverse range of services which can put knowledge to work. UCI, along with California’s other research universities, is a pivotal driver for this new economy and operates as a full partner with industry and government in the state. The university’s wealth of basic and applied research, its liberal arts, and its professional education programs all integrate knowledge into the public and private sectors. They represent invaluable components of the state’s capacity to diversify and sustain its economic competitiveness, while assuring economic security and improving quality of life for all citizens. The direct financial contribution of public research universities to the economy in California is enormous. For example, in 2000 the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges reported that the economic impact of the University of California was $11.9 billion, with 78 companies being created using UC intellectual property between 1990 and 2000 and 1,057 patents issued from 1995 to 2000.²⁰ In 2001-02, UC’s statewide economic impact exceeded $14 billion, which represented a return of $4 for every $1 spent by California on UC.²¹ In 2002, UC accounted for nearly 370,000 jobs – 2 percent of all employment in California – and direct and indirect spending by UC exceeded $11.6 billion and generated $4 billion in state and local tax revenues.²² Furthermore, UC effectively leverages the funding it gets from the state. The additional spending was supported in large part by extramural funding for research, which not only produces intellectual capital but also significant expenditures. For every $1 in state-funded R&D at UC in 2000-01, UC secured an additional $2.63 in federal funding and $1.26 in private support for research. Thus, for every $1 in state-funded research, UC brought in an additional $3.89 for research.²³ The UC Office of the President projects “Statewide impacts of UC expenditures funded by federal dollars from 2002 to 2011 [to] total $3.07 billion in real gross state product and 60,636 jobs statewide.”²⁴

UCI participates fully in this financial contribution to the economy. UCI is home to several policy centers; industrial, regional and employment databases; online networks; university libraries; and government document resources. All of these resources have a direct impact on the quality of information and analytic tools needed for economic competitiveness. Faculty and graduate student research has opened the door to numerous discoveries and technological advancements. UCI’s extramural funding for research has grown steadily to $311 million in 2005-06, with more than 10 percent of those funds being provided by industry for technology development and for clinical trials. In 2003-04, UCI researchers submitted a total of 130 new invention disclosures and UCI’s active patent portfolio now exceeds 600 cases. Many graduates have gone into the private sector, and some have been involved in start-up companies and done work leading to a patent or patent application. UCI also maintains highly competitive and interdisciplinary research programs of interest to industry, including biomedical engineering, nanoscale systems, medical application of lasers, viral research, chemical synthesis, genomics, and bioinformatics. UCI competed successfully in partnership with UCSD and partnering companies to establish the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology – Calit2 – under the governor’s California Institutes for Science and Innovation initiative. New interdisciplinary programs also are being developed in drug discovery and pharmaceutical sciences.

Technology transfer at UCI is coordinated by the Office of Technology Alliances, which integrates a range of activities to facilitate faculty/industry research collaboration, licensing of promising technologies, and the creation of start-up companies to develop and commercialize UCI discoveries. Industry regularly provides $25 million to $30 million per year in research funds to UCI researchers for technology-oriented programs. UCI has 46 active license/option agreements with 29 California companies, and these companies account for 59 percent of UCI’s total agreements. One particularly noteworthy example is the Dynamic Cooling Device, which uses a pulsed cryogenic spray to minimize scarring and pain in laser operations, and now among the top-five patent revenue producers in the UC system. UCI has given rise to more than 30 start-up companies, with eight new start-ups now in various stages of development. UCI start-ups have created more than 300 new jobs, the majority being located in California.

Many of the companies associated with UCI in the development and application of new technologies are housed in the University Research Park. URP occupies 185 acres adjacent to the campus. There are currently about 30 tenant corporations, and at buildout there will be 40 buildings with 2.4 million square feet of space for research, technology and business. URP attracts businesses to Irvine and Orange County that want to access the resources of a major research university and form strategic partnerships. Most of the companies in URP focus on emerging growth technologies, such as biotechnology, medical devices, computer hardware and software, communications, electronics, pharmaceutical development, and other high-tech-based industries. URP companies interact with UCI’s academic programs, enhance the region’s reputation as a center for advanced technology, and contribute to an educated workforce. 

Annual revenue from UCI’s intellectual properties is more than $6 million and is growing as more of UCI’s technologies enter the market. For the period 2002-2011, productivity gains associated with research and development at UCI are projected to contribute $301 million, and expenditures at UCI are estimated to create more than 6,000 jobs in the region. The following figures include actual expenditures for 2002 and projected expenditures for 2002-2011.²⁵

The strong academic programs at UCI will be a center for the discovery, creation and dissemination of knowledge that forms the bedrock of the 21st century economy. To realize the full potential of its public mission, however, UCI must improve the quality of the workforce in Southern California, expand its influence in the realm of information and policy, and increase the rate and extent of technology transfer through more interdisciplinary and collaborative initiatives with industry and government. Special institutional mechanisms are developing through which UCI can leverage its intellectual and physical resources by collaborating with the private and public sectors to enhance the regional economy and infrastructure. Communication, coordination and cooperation will be essential to an initiative of “putting knowledge to work.” UCI will need to build, promote and expand its outreach to the industrial community to help ensure that the base of investment capital expands in Orange County, that high-tech companies can be recruited to the region, and that start-up companies have a supportive and nurturing environment within which to grow and develop.

This activity is now under way with OCTANe (Orange County Technology Action Network) and its campus-based program OCTANe@UCI. UCI must continue working closely with The Irvine Company to ensure that University Research Park fulfills its potential as a resource for new enterprises coming from the UCI campus and as a magnet for established companies whose R&D interests intersect with those of the Irvine campus. The recent decision by Broadcom to move its headquarters to URP is a significant step in this direction. The challenge will be to balance the growth and development of these programs with the campus’s capacity to manage and support these initiatives, and to protect and transfer the discoveries emanating from these programs into commerce.

University of California, Irvine • Irvine, CA 92697
949-824-5011
© 2007 The Regents of the University of California.
All Rights Reserved.

Last Updated: January 22, 2007