• In the 1940s, Oxford University researchers under Howard Walter Florey and Ernst Boris Chain discovered a method for mass production of penicillin, and contributed significantly to the saving of lives in World War II. The duo shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Alexander Fleming, who isolated penicillin from a fungus.

• In 1965-1966, University of Florida researchers led by Robert Cade developed a drink to help the University's football players replenish fluids lost during practices and games. The football team is called the Gators and the drink, licensed to a company in 1967 and to this day still bringing royalties to the university, Gatorade.

• In 1989-91, CERN researchers Timothy Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau developed upon earlier ideas and built the World Wide Web, with web browser, editor, server and web site. In 1994, Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web Consortium, which continues to set standards and recommendations on the use and improvements of the web based on a royalty-free principle.

Gatorade is a registered trademark of the Gatorade Company.

• A wireless charging platform for simultaneously charging several portable electronic devices such as mobile phones and PDAs was licensed to a Hong Kong company in 2006. The invention inspired the formation of the world's first Wireless Power Consortium in late 2008. 

• CityU researchers have developed compact and high-performance amplifiers and antennas for the Beidou satellite navigation system, and a joint venture between the University and the Chengdu GoldTel Communication (Group) Co. Ltd. was set up in 2002 to develop and supply satellite subsystems.

• A database collecting lexical entries from six Chinese speech communities since 1995 has been licensed to organizations such as Google, Ericsson and the Hong Kong Judiciary.

• An image compression technology has been licensed to a Hong Kong telecommunications company for the development of video telephony.

• A smart asset maintenance software that monitors the health conditions of equipment has been licensed to the MTR, China Light & Power and Cathay Pacific Catering Services (HK) Ltd.

• Certain computer architecture for object oriented programming has been licensed to the Hong Kong Applied Science & Technology Research Institute Co. Ltd. (ASTRI) for the development of integrated circuits to support Java applications in wireless and mobile devices.