Today, my Ambature colleagues and I had a series of meetings at JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab) and CalTech, where we discussed a wide range of topics, from quantum computing to invention disclosure ratios at major universities. Somewhat predictably, quantum computing is amazing, but I was surprised to learn that CalTech, which files on average only half a patent application per faculty per year, is one of the best in the US. Another related statistic: one million dollars of research money produces one patent application, which, probably, results in no more than half patent. That is, for $2M spent on research one of the best universities in the world gets one US patent. MIT has similar numbers, while public universities, like University of California, file at least 4 times less.

Assuming, generously, that one US patent application costs $50K over its life time, the amount of grant money universities spend on IP is less than 0.5%. In contrast, administrative costs are around 40%, which is 80 times higher. I wonder why this is the case.

Now, for your amusement, here's a picture of a test bed for Mars Rover. This is where JPL researchers investigate ways to rescue their remote machines when they get stuck on the Red Planet. This time, it's  the rocks, which you can see in the middle of the whitish surface, that cause the trouble.