Administration has a separate authority under the 1958 Space Act and the 1989 National Space Policy.²⁷

As of FY 2001, there were 3,603 active CRADAs, 80% of which involved DOD, DOE, or the Department of Health and Human Services.²⁸

CRADAs can range from focused collaboration on a specific technology to large programs, such as FreedomCAR, a successor to the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) CRADA between DOE and the big three automakers.²⁹ PNGV was reviewed by a standing National Academies committee.³⁰ Although the research made impressive technological progress, only with the recent rapid rise in gasoline prices are advanced technologies for high-fuel-economy vehicles becoming a competitive factor in the marketplace.

The Bayh–Dole Act of 1980, which allowed universities to own and license patents of university inventions (even inventions supported by federal funds), ushered in an explosion of university patenting and licensing activity.³¹ There is broad recognition that Bayh–Dole has encouraged a variety of university–industry collaborations and small-firm startups. Figures EL-3 and EL-4 show how industry support for university research and university licensing income has gone up. There has been continuing research and debate on the ultimate impacts.³²

Calls to amend or rethink Bayh–Dole have come from several quarters in recent years. Some companies and universities have found it difficult to work out the intellectual-property aspects of collaboration.³³ There also have been cases in which university intellectual-property rights might have