According to a recent report from ThePLUG, there has been a significant increase in the number of new patents created by scholars at historically Black colleges and universities.
The report shows that there are currently 30 HBCUs across the country that own patent rights. The Morehouse School of Medicine holds the most patents of any HBCU with 63 patents generated from 2000 to 2019. The next highest are Howard University with 53 patents, followed by Florida A&M University with 41 patents.
Interestingly, the number of patents produced by a HBCU does not correlate with that institution’s endowment. For example, the leading patent-producing school, the Morehouse School of Medicine, has an endowment of $56 million. In comparison, Spelman College in Atlanta has an endowment of $389 million but has only created eight patents in the last 40 years.
The full report, along with a comprehensive HBCU patent database, may be accessed here.
