I mentioned in my first blog on Kauffman’s “Rules for Growth” that there would be a follow-up blog focused on Kauffman’s characterization of university performance as “sub-optimal”, given “innovations developed by university faculty could be commercialized more quickly and effectively.” While, at heart, I believe any organization can be improved in theory, we’re exploring here the rationale Kauffman provides for this “sub-optimal” performance.
Kauffman outlines three reasons for believing university technology transfer is sub-optimal. We will focus on the first of these reasons in this blog. The first reason Kauffman provides for university “sub-optimal” performance is that FDA Drug approvals have declined. At the same time, federal research dollars have increased from $20 billion in 1993 to $30 billion, for this “reason”, university technology transfer is “sub-optimal.” I guess the point is, you have more federal money, but FDA is approving less.
