Category Archives: Innovation

Affordances, Innovation, and University Patents

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Gerald Barnett

I first hit affordances in Don Norman’s book The Design of Everyday Things. Here’s some key points: The term affordance refers to the relationship between a physical object and a person . . . . An affordance is a relationship between … Continue reading →

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University technology transfer as an import function

Posted on January 5, 2017 by Gerald Barnett

Here is Carlo Marco Belfanti, on “Guilds, Patents, and the Circulation of Technical Knowledge“: In 1554 the Republic of Lucca established a special office, the Offizio sopra le Nuove Arti, to undertake the task of “examining the ways of introducing … Continue reading →

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Research Monopolies and Development Monopolies

Posted on October 28, 2016 by Gerald Barnett

Here is one thing that I don’t understand about the standard distinction between research and development and how all this fits into ideas about commercialization. Let’s say that research produces a result that is immediately useful. Isn’t the research then development? … Continue reading →

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Research and Development

Posted on October 27, 2016 by Gerald Barnett

In 2 CFR 215 (Circular A-110), we find definitions of research and development (dd): Research and development means all research activities, both basic and applied, and all development activities that are supported at universities, colleges, and other non-profit institutions. This … Continue reading →

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Was Vannevar Bush So Wrong?

Posted on October 18, 2016 by Gerald Barnett

Over at Science of Science Policy there’s more discussion of Vannevar Bush, this time attributing to Bush the “linear model” of innovation that asserts that basic research leads to discoveries that applied research then prepares for development into commercial products, … Continue reading →

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Behind the Usual Narrative, Part II

Posted on October 17, 2016 by Gerald Barnett

Bush’s Idea Vannevar Bush’s Science the Endless Frontier argues that the federal government has a proper role to play in advancing scientific research by supporting both research and scientific education. “The Federal Government,” writes Bush, “should accept new responsibilities for … Continue reading →

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Active Latency Innovation

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Gerald Barnett

In The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress, Joel Mokyr works through an economic history of technological change. He observes that sometimes changes happen incrementally, and sometimes with a sort of “macro” leap. It appears that in some … Continue reading →

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Bayh-Dole, the franken-sausage god

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Gerald Barnett

The full title is: Bayh-Dole, the franken-sausage god that destroyed private initiative and the federal research commons, eliminated subvention from university research policy and failed to create a public covenant to use research inventions to develop new products and create new industries … Continue reading →

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Vannevar Bush’s seductive lie

Posted on August 26, 2016 by Gerald Barnett

At The New Atlantis, Dan Sarewitz has published an interesting article, “Saving Science.” While there’s plenty to discuss regarding his major theme, that scientists “must come out of the lab into the real world,” here I’d like to deal with a … Continue reading →

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Science at the Frontier and the Effect of the Linear Model

Posted on May 17, 2016 by Gerald Barnett

In Science the Endless Frontier, Vannevar Bush proposed federal funding to universities to expand the frontiers of science. Folks these days focus on the science part of Bush’s proposal and his advocacy for funding research at universities. They skip over the idea … Continue reading →

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