The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of critical resource flows on technology transfer activity. The investigation focused on the impact on a university's licensing orientation of four sources of research and development (R&D) revenues: federal, state, industry, and institutional. By licensing orientation is meant the number of licenses with start-ups and small firms and licenses with large firms. The sample consisted of 104 doctoral extensive and intensive institutions for which information was available on each of the variables of interest. Data were collected from surveys and from the National Science Foundations annual reports on academic R&D. Federal R&D was a significant positive predictor of performance in both models. As was consistent with other research, federal R&D was predictive of university start-up activity. Federal dollars have declined as a share of R&D funding but many federal agencies are less likely to impose cost sharing requirements on grantees. Overall, universities seemed likely to devote institutional resources to potentially high-risk, but high-return, activities as opposed to working with large companies. Since institutional R&D is the fastest growing source of academic R&D and the one on which an institution can exercise the most control, it may be the best barometer of entrepreneurial orientation of any of the R&D funding areas. State R&D funding is more likely to be associated with large company licensing. The implications of these findings for higher education policy and practice are discussed. (Contains 52 references.) (SLD)