Sun, 14 Dec 2003 16:07:31 GMT

Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Kenan Sahin (Tech Review, via WSJ) writes about the “innovation backlog” in the US and makes suggestions which we in India could do well to learn and adopt:
—-cut—-

Loosen university intellectual-property rules: University-based research thrived in the 1980s and '90s because of extensive company sponsorships that spawned new innovations, as well as start-ups. That coupling is much weaker now, partly for reasons already mentioned, but also because the intellectual-property policies of universities have become so complex and money-oriented that companies find it increasingly difficult to structure deals. These restrictive policies may also cause academics to lose their entrepreneurial spirit. I suggest that universities allow faculty members to keep a much bigger share of the intellectual property they create, and also change their rules to encourage the transfer of intellectual property, focusing more on their fundamental mission than on revenue generation.

[E M E R G I C . o r g]