The University's Office of Technology Transfer has a goal: join Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as one of the best offices of technology transfer in the country.

The University of Michigan's tech transfer office handled 329 new technologies in 2005, the most recent year for which data was available,. University of Michigan's office receives about one invention idea per day - a number that University officials say continues to rise.

The technology transfer office is responsible for taking something discovered or invented by faculty and staff at the University and marketing it.

Part of the process involves deciding whether the product is worth presenting to companies. When a professor at the University discovers or creates something new, the professor has to fill out a disclosure form from the office before releasing it publicly.

After that, the office reviews the sheet. If staffers think the disclosure is worthwhile, the tech transfer office works with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to ensure that the discovery isn't unfairly copied. The idea is then introduced to companies that might be interested in producing it.

The number of possible patents produced by the University has been growing in the last few years, said Mark Maynard, marketing manager at the tech transfer office. The more new inventions that go through the office - called disclosures - the more patented products that come out of the University.

"I think we've gotten better at our job," Maynard said. "My sense is that the reputation wasn't stellar in the past. Now we're easily in the top ten in the country."

The tech transfer offices at Stanford and MIT are regularly regarded as the best.

"In a way we're not competing with other institutions, but if you say tech transfer you hear Stanford and MIT," said Robin Rasor, director of licensing for the technology transfer office. "Our mission is to get in that same sentence and breath."

Technologies developed at the University could boost the state's economy.

"We are a state school and the states are looking to the schools for economic revival," Rasor said. "There's a lot of economic development involved in this to see if students will stay and start companies."

Three people are currently in the process of starting new companies using technology invented at the University of Michigan, Maynard said. The technology went through the Office of Technology Transfer.

In the past, some Michigan faculty worried that going through the tech transfer office would hinder research, but new professors and researchers are more receptive to the office, Rasor said.

"The younger faculty are more entrepreneurial and understand this won't slow down their research," Rasor said.

From 1969 to 2005, the University's tech transfer office has overseen 777 products, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office's most recent list of patents from universities in the United States.

The office hopes to increase that number.

Less than a dozen schools have patented more products than the University. The largest number of patents from an academic institution is 5,226 from the University of California system. MIT has produced 2,919 patents, the largest number from a single university.

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Prof. John Nees - who has patented two laser-related products through the tech transfer office - considers patenting products a crucial part of sharing an invention with the world.

"Without a patent, often times, an excellent idea can't be used because there's no leverage for a company to start up with that idea," Nees said.

-Rebecca Patterson contributed to this report.