Many corporations, too. They effectively become trading assets or bargaining chips. 

I remember once being involved in an internal hackathon where one of the top criteria for determining a winner was whether the project was patentable. 

Patents are a large source of funding for many schools. I suppose more explicitly state funded schools have less need for that.

Undisciplined

I wonder, where do they use the research funds?

sangekrypto

For sure. This was in the context of an American collaboration. When working with Europeans, the question of applying for a patent never comes up. I guess most universities in the US hire people to help researchers finalize the paperwork, so in a sense, they need to justify their existence within the university by getting researchers to apply regularly for patents. It's self-sustainable. Just some more research money used inefficiently.