Since 1976, over 700 companies were founded on patents that were based on University of California inventions. And these aren’t just small companies – some have turned out to be industry giants like Genentech and Broadcom. At UCLA, doctoral student David Wernick and his colleagues are working on how to genetically re-engineer protein waste to produce renewable forms of energy. In the process, their lab has one patent and three more in the works.

"In an academic setting, we don’t have to have immediate results and we’re allowed to explore the science around us and we have a little more freedom to investigate basic science, generate new theories that you might not be able to do in a corporate setting. And because of this, we can be sort of an engine for generating new ideas; the ideas don’t have to immediately make a profit, but they can formulate ideas that people can then think about 10, 20 years down the line and perhaps in the future they will help aid the new science breakthrough that does result in jobs, does make new technology that is usable in industry."