Innovation: lessons from UK policy

摘要

I disagree with parts of Bhaven Sampats assessment of the US Bayh-Dole Act on ownership of federally funded research (Nature 468, 755-756; 2010). The act was passed as an agent of economic policy, not of social policy. It aimed to reconnect academic research to the national economic infrastructure by allowing universities to obtain patents on their research and then commercialize it. It bypassed 'top-down' rules established by the government.