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Abstract
University patenting has been heralded as a symbol of changing relations between universities
and their social environments. The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 in the USA was eagerly promoted
by the OECD as a recipe for the commercialization of university research, and the
law was imitated by a number of national governments. However, since the 2000s university
patenting in the most advanced economies has been on the decline both as a percentage
and in absolute terms. We suggest that the institutional incentives for university
patenting have disappeared with the new regime of university ranking. Patents and
spin-offs are not counted in university rankings. In the new arrangements of university-industry-government
relations, universities have become very responsive to changes in their relevant environments.