Category Archives: Innovation

Vannevar Bush and the Unexpected Model of Innovation

In Science and Technology Policy in the United States: Open Systems in Action, Sylvia Kraemer spends a section of a chapter discussing Vannevar Bush and Science the Endless Frontier. Kraemer agrees that Science the Endless Frontier is an important document in … Continue reading

Posted in History, Innovation, Policy, Technology Transfer, Vannever Bush | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Vannevar Bush and the Unexpected Model of Innovation

Dual selectivity or dual monopoly? What’ll it be?

Archie Palmer’s surveys of university patent policies make clear that most universities for a long time did not have a patent policy, and when they did write a policy, often it recorded ad hoc practices–for the vast majority of universities, … Continue reading

Posted in Freedom, History, Innovation, Policy, Technology Transfer | Comments Off on Dual selectivity or dual monopoly? What’ll it be?

Dealing with Norming Myths

There’s a new study out at Future Internet that looks at how Wikipedia’s norms have developed over the years. In “The Evolution of Wikipedia’s Norm Network,” Bradi Heaberlin and Simon DeDeo examine Wikipedia’s form of governance and find it to … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, Bozonet, Commons, Freedom, History, Innovation, Metrics, Policy | Comments Off on Dealing with Norming Myths

Four Approaches to University Patent Policies

Policy For the last couple of weeks I have been considering the nature of university patent policies. I have looked at a number of university patent policies and written a number of drafts. Things get complicated quickly, but there appears … Continue reading

Posted in Agreements, Innovation, Policy | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Four Approaches to University Patent Policies

Do what you have promised to do: Further consequences of (f)(2)

[Updated with a discussion of NIST’s May 2018 rule change] The (f)(2) requirement in the standard patent rights clause authorized by the Bayh-Dole Act is a requirement for the host university to delegate, to flow down, to subcontract a portion … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, Innovation, Policy | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Do what you have promised to do: Further consequences of (f)(2)

Bayh-Dole, the bureaucratic solution to massive federal funding of faculty research

Prior to 1912, university faculty generally did not seek patents. Cottrell at the University of California created Research Corporation to act as an external agent to present his and other faculty members’ inventions to industry. The Board of Research Corporation … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, History, Innovation, Policy, Technology Transfer | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Bayh-Dole, the bureaucratic solution to massive federal funding of faculty research

The VPR Letters, No. 1

Dear Vice Provost for Research, An insightful vice provost for research once told me that the director of technology transfer had the second most difficult job in the university, after the dean of medicine. Having served as a director of a campus … Continue reading

Posted in Innovation, Policy, Technology Transfer | Comments Off on The VPR Letters, No. 1

UW's President Continues UW's Rank Deception

On September 30, University of Washington interim president Ana Mari Cauce sent out an email to alumni, including me, on the topic of “kicking off a new year.” The aim of the email was a pitch for donations, of course. … Continue reading

Posted in Bozonet, Innovation, Metrics | Comments Off on UW's President Continues UW's Rank Deception

The Road to Redemption

Here’s a story in today’s Seattle Times about AnswerDash, a company formed by students and faculty at the University of Washington’s Information School (my emphasis): The company, founded in 2012, has raised more than $5 million, including a $2.9 million … Continue reading

Posted in Innovation, Metrics, Policy, Startups | Comments Off on The Road to Redemption

Come in from the cold

In The Economist for August 8, there’s an article on the problem of patents. The article questions the utility of patents and points to a number of situations in which patents appear to block innovation or have nothing to do … Continue reading

Posted in Bayh-Dole, Freedom, History, Innovation, IP, Policy | Comments Off on Come in from the cold