Ajou University has led 5 consecutive years of growth in technology transfer revenues through continuous posting of outstanding performance in technology commercialization. Technology transfer revenue refer to money paid by companies to the university in exchange for intellectual property with an aim to use the research findings of university research teams, which signifies the university’s strength in research.

In June of every year, the Ministry of Education publicly announces each university’s technology transfer revenues and contract performance through its annual University Information Disclosure, wherein Ajou University recorded a total of KRW 3.35 billion in 2020 university technology transfer revenues, ranking Ajou 7^th in Korea. The average technology transfer revenueearned by domestic universities in 2020 is around KRW 710 million. 

Ajou is the only university with continuously growing profits from technology licensing in the latest five-year period. It recorded KRW 1.18 billion in 2016, followed by KRW1.96 billion in 2017, KRW 2.14 billion in 2018, KRW 2.63 billion in 2019, and KRW 3.35 billion in 2020.

The scale and scope of technology transfers at each university represent the publication of papers by and academic performance of faculty members, which shows that a university’s research is actually benefiting society and companies, and indicates that material industry-academia cooperation is taking place. 

Various departments, including the departments of Engineering, Natural Sciences, School of Medicine, Colleges of Pharmacy, and Nursing, are all located on one campus which facilitates inter-disciplinary cooperation. As the university established a dedicated Technology Licensing Office and employs field-specific professionals, it has been able to operate a systematic and advanced support platform for technology commercialization through its Support Program Tailored to Intellectual Property Life Cycle. Towards providing more customized assistance, Ajou’s Technology Commercialization Team has established a full cycle support system for appointed professors—early, mid-term and later period. The Team also runs an outreach program on campus to raise awareness of technology commercialization. 

With an aim to promote more active utilization of its research outcomes, Ajou University is also actively involved in a variety of external programs including ▲the BRIDGE+ Program (under the Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation), ▲the Intellectual Property Reinvestment Support Program (under the Korean Intellectual Property Office and Korea Patent Strategy Development Institute), and ▲the Technology Management Center (TMC) Program of Universities (under the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Commercialization Promotion Agency for R&D Outcomes).

This year, a total of 413 tertiary institutions were included in the Ministry of Education’s University Information Disclosure (223 universities, 145 junior colleges, 45 graduate universities). Records were disclosed in 14 areas, 67 items, and 107 sub-category items, including school, students, finances, etc. In the technology transfer revenue category, KAIST ranked 1^st followed by ▲Seoul National University ▲Kyunghee University ▲Yonsei University and ▲Korea University.