4. Discussion
Statistical analysis, conducted using the most resent three years of the AUTM's licensing survey data (i.e., 2011, 2012, and 2013), revealed that universities that had accepted equity in start-up companies had statistically significantly higher licensing revenue, in all three years analyzed in this investigation, than universities that did not accept equity positions in start-up ventures. In 2011, the average dollar amount of total licensing revenue earned by universities that had taken equity positions in start-up companies was $16,905,196.86. Two years later, in 2013, the average licensing revenue generated by these universities had risen to $20,957,296.19. In contrast, the 2011 average licensing revenue total by universities that had taken no equity positions in start-up ventures was $6,606,741.27. By 2013, the average licensing revenue generated by these universities had dwindled to just $2,287,790.40