University Research: Controlling Inappropriate Access to Federally FundedResearch Results. Report to the Chairman, Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee, Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives

摘要

The Chairman, Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee, HouseCommittee on Government Operations, has expressed concern that closer links between universities and businesses have increased the potential for conflicts of interest that would give businesses inappropriate access to, and therefore an unfair advantage in commercializing, the results of federally funded research. To assess the extent of these linkages, the Chairman requested that we survey the universities receiving the most funding from NIH and NSF in fiscal year 1989 about: (1) the extent of licensing activities for technologies developed in whole or in part with NIH or NSF funding; (2) foreign participation in industrial liaison programs that, in return for membership fees, provide companies with access to research programs; and (3) policies and procedures to control potential conflicts of interest by faculty or administrators that could give companies inappropriate access to research results. As agreed with the Subcommittee, we assessed the overall relationship between universities and businesses without seeking to identify specific instances of inappropriate access. To obtain information about the extent of linkages between universities and businesses, we sent a questionnaire to 37 universities that were among the 25 leading university recipients of funding from NIH and/or the 25 leading university recipients of funding from NSF in fiscal year 1989. All of the universities, except the Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania, responded to the questionnaire. We also obtained additional data through telephone interviews with administrators at the 35 universities that responded. We did not independently verify the accuracy of data that the universities reported.