Innovation is Like Love, aptly described by those old posters I used to see at my dentist’s office, “if you love something, set it free, and if it comes back to you, it’s yours…” Same thing for innovative university technologies, novel methods and creative people. Here’s a poster that should hang in campus hallways: “If you want innovation to take place, set it free, and if it comes back to you – well – it’s not precisely yours, but at least you’ve succeeded in introducing genuine value to the rest of the world….”
So what’s the problem? The problem is that innovative university research is not set free. Currently, university technology commercialization strategies rest on the assumption that university research is most commercially appealing when managed as potentially lucrative, university-owned intellectual property. The current approach to commercializing university inventions is due for an overhaul. Yet, universities and federal agencies continue to invest money and resources in initiatives and programs that merely re-hash the technology commercialization model we already have, one built on the assumption that more, not less, central control over university research is needed to increase its commercial uptake.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Innovation Excellence | Set University Innovation Free
Author:Melba Kurman
