MUSC ranks 4th on Patent Power 2014 Scorecard for universities

Scorecard analysts note MUSC’s strong first showing in prestigious association’s survey

CHARLESTON, SC – The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) made an impressive debut on the Patent Power 2014 Scorecard recently published by the International Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) association, with MUSC securing the No. 4 spot in the category for universities.

MUSC’s appearance in the top tier of the annual listing spotlights the overall strength of its patent portfolio, which is managed by MUSC Foundation for Research Development (FRD), the university’s technology transfer office.

“This data reflects MUSC’s growing commitment to innovation over the previous five years, a commitment that FRD will continuously support for years to come,” said FRD Executive Director Michael Rusnak (pictured left).

Since 2005, IEEE’s Spectrum magazine has published the Patent Power Scorecard, charting top U.S. portfolios in a range of sectors through an analysis of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office records for the previous year. The fourth-place showing by MUSC in 2014 marks its first appearance on the Patent Power Scorecard for Universities, Education and Training. The top three universities include No. 1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), followed by University of California and Harvard University.

MUSC’s performance on the Patent Power Scorecard also gained attention in the accompanying Spectrum article, which notes “a couple of interesting movers among Universities, with the University of Illinois improving from 12th to 5th, and the Medical University of South Carolina appearing for the first time, in 4th place.”

Authors Anthony Breitzman and Patrick Thomas cofounded 1790 Analytics, which constructs the Patent Power Scorecard for IEEE with rankings in 17 different categories. “Dramatic shifts from year to year may appear surprising,” they write, “but the Patent Power Scorecards are based on objective, quantitative benchmarking of the patent portfolios of more than 6,000 leading commercial enterprises, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies worldwide.”

The rankings take into account both portfolio size and quality. The formula to determine overall “Pipeline Power” starts with the number of U.S. patents an organization receives during the preceding year and weights that based on metrics that reflect the growth, impact, originality and generality of the organization’s patent portfolio.

“This ranking is an acknowledgement of the cutting edge research being performed at MUSC and captured in FRD’s patent portfolio. It highlights why MUSC is a great choice for industry partnerships,” said FRD Associate Director Jesse Goodwin.

With a history dating to the 1800s, IEEE (pronounced “Eye-triple-E”) is the world’s largest professional association for the advancement of technology. The association magazine, Spectrum, publishes the latest technology news. Its Patent Power 2014 Scorecard is available online.

About MUSC Foundation for Research Development
FRD has served as MUSC’s technology transfer office since 1998. During that period, FRD has filed patent applications on more than 320 technologies, resulting in 126 U.S. issued patents. Additionally, FRD has executed 148 licenses and spun out more than 46 startup companies. MUSC startups have had products approved by the FDA and acquired by publicly traded corporations while attracting substantial investment dollars into South Carolina. Innovations from MUSC, including medical devices, therapies and software, are positively impacting health care worldwide. Please visit us online at frd.musc.edu