The evaluation of university inventions: Judging a book by its cover?

This study examines the influence of inventor appearance on how technology licensing officers perceive the commercial potential of new university inventions. An experiment with technology licensing officers at Carnegie I research universities in the United States serves to manipulate inventor appearance in otherwise identical invention disclosures. The experiment reveals that licensing officers perceive inventions by more attractive inventors (inventors with a professional appearance) to have more commercial potential. These findings have several critical implications for university technology commercialization.