When Academia Puts Profit Ahead of Wonder -
NYTimes.com
September 7, 2008
Unboxed
When Academia Puts Profit Ahead of Wonder
By JANET RAE-DUPREE
None of these are necessarily negative outcomes. But more than a
quarter-century after President Jimmy Carter signed it into law, the
Bayh-Dole Act, sponsored by the former Senators Birch Bayh, Democrat
of Indiana, and Robert Dole, Republican of Kansas, is under increasing
scrutiny by swelling ranks of critics. The primary concern is that its
original intent — to infuse the American marketplace with the fruits
of academic innovation — has also distorted the fundamental mission of
universities.
“Severe disagreements have arisen over conflicting interpretations of
the Bayh-Dole Act,” he said. “Large U.S.-based corporations have
become so disheartened and disgusted with the situation, they are now
working with foreign universities, especially the elite institutions
in France, Russia and China.”
THE issue is further clouded by “reach through” licenses, complex
arrangements used by many tech transfer offices. A reach-through lets
the patent holder claim a share of any profits that result from using,
say, an enabling technology, even if those profits come several steps
down the market transfer line. Several universities are already
embroiled in messy lawsuits trying to sort out who is entitled to what.
Perhaps the most troublesome aspect of campus commercialization is
that research decisions are now being based on possible profits, not
on the inherent value of knowledge. “Blue sky” research — the kind of
basic experimentation that leads to a greater understanding of how the
world works — has largely been set aside in favor of projects
considered to have more immediate market potential.
University Inc. Campus Commercialization and The CEO Salary
The highest-paid person in American academic life, according to The Chronicle, was Maurice Samuels, who received $35.1 million, including a bonus of $14.5 million for reaching investment goals, as senior vice president of the Harvard Management Company, which manages Harvard University's $22.6 billion endowment.