Universities receive funding for research from government sources as
well as industry partners. Currently, several large universities are
focusing on the industry-sponsored sector of research. They have made
changes to their intellectual property policies in order to attract more corporate partners.
Penn State University (PSU) has begun giving the IP property rights and possible royalties
from industry-sponsored research to the sponsors. When a project is
partially government funded and must remain university owned, PSU will
provide a licensing option instead. The decision to change the IP policy
came after an analysis of the benefits and costs of sponsored research
agreements and the realization that the current policy was expensive and
did not yield much revenue.
Similarly, the University of Minnesota has simplified the contracts
that it presents to industry sponsors. It allows the companies to
purchase exclusive rights to findings for an initial fee to avoid months
of negotiations.
These changes may raise questions about the entanglement of industry
and academics, but universities are seeing good results. The University
of Minnesota has said that the policy change has already brought in
additional funding that wouldn’t have otherwise been available. Both
schools do recommend careful evaluation of IP revenues before a change
of policy to ensure success.
What are your views on industry sponsored research? Will it be beneficial for these universities in the long run?