Michael Geist has an interesting article on the income that Canadian universities are making from licencing intellectual property. He questions whether an open distribution model might be better than the current traditional commercialization model.
The latest report is based on survey data from 2008 which finds that the total IP income (primarily from licencing) at reporting Canadian universities was $53.2 million. The cost of generating this income? The reporting institutions employed 321 full-time employees in IP management for a cost of $51.1 million. In other words, after these direct costs, the total surplus for all Canadian universities was $2.1 million.