As a council of the National Small Business Association (NSBA), SBTC knows Bayh-Dole works because it harnesses the entrepreneurship of America’s innovative small businesses, and Congress and the Administration should reject proposals that would weaken it.
The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 was a landmark piece of legislation that helped provide the foundational intellectual property framework allowing small businesses to keep and commercialize the inventions they create using federal funding, including from SBIR/STTR awards.
Prior to passage of this act, fewer than 5 percent of government-funded innovations were commercialized. This is because for-profit entities simply had no incentive to commercialize them.
By allowing small businesses to own the IP they develop, the Bayh-Dole created that incentive, transforming American innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as contributing greatly to SBIR/STTR’s economic success.
Now, thanks to a recent study from the Bayh-Dole Coalition, America's most important economic community has a clearer picture of just how transformational the economic impact of this legislation has been:
Between 1996 and 2025, Bayh-Dole enabled tech transfer contributed approximately $3.3 trillion to US gross economic output. It also supported 7.6 million job-years in employment, and more than 155,000 patents.
In modern years there has been some push to weaken or even eliminate Bayh-Dole.
Proposals have been floated that would let the government set prices, or use march-in rights to seize federally-funded IP from small businesses. The Bayh-Dole Coaltion's study shows how damaging such proposals would be.
As a council of the National Small Business Association (NSBA), SBTC knows Bayh-Dole works because it harnesses the entrepreneurship of America’s innovative small businesses, and Congress and the Administration should reject proposals that would weaken it.
Read the full report here: The Economic Impact of the Bayh-Dole Act, 1996-2025