UIDP Investigates New University Approaches to Industry Engagement

摘要

Since the implementation of the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980, the standard university practice for dealing with the products of privately sponsored research has focused on protecting foreground intellectual property (FIP) and on licensing development rights. Based on the success of a few prominent examples, many universities established processes seeking to realize substantial revenue streams by monetizing intellectual property. However, with a few rare exceptions, institutions did not realize sufficient revenue to justify the expense of IP protection. Furthermore, many potential industry sponsors of university research see academic IP policies as a barrier to collaborative research relationships, since valuation and exclusivity issues are often unsettled at the beginning of the project. This carries the substantial, and often unacceptable, risk that industry will have limited access to the IP generated from corporate-sponsored research activities and has negatively impacted (or completely eliminated) university-industry collaborations.