Publishing and patenting the fruits of academic research: The key to a successful parallel track

摘要

The traditional role of academic research institutions has been, among other things, the creation and public dissemination of knowledge. Over the past several decades, however, academia has become increasingly involved in commercializing the fruits of its investigators' research efforts-for example, through licensing or other arrangements made with industry partners or through more entrepreneurial efforts such as the formation of a new company. The reasons that an academic institution might elect to engage in such activities are legion. They can include such diverse motivations as the desire to attract research funding from commercial sources to augment or replace diminished grant funding or to respond to social mandates to contribute positively to economic development and job growth in the community, or even as a tool for recruiting top academic talent.