Category Archives: Policy

The Faculty Stack, 4: Frontiers Science and Other Science

Posted on April 15, 2021 by Gerald Barnett

We are working toward the faculty stack. To get there, however, we need context. We started with Vannevar Bush’s problem–how to connect federal resources to the free play of free intellects to expand the frontiers of science. The new awareness … Continue reading →

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The faculty stack, 2: Basic Research and IP Policy

Posted on April 8, 2021 by Gerald Barnett

The idea I will pursue here is that university faculty represent a distinct and important kind of discoverer–researcher, investigator, noodler, gadgeteer, irrelevanteur, loon. Our search for what we cannot imagine depends in having at least some really capable folks out … Continue reading →

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The faculty stack, 1: Academic Freedom and IP Policy

Posted on April 7, 2021 by Gerald Barnett

[The aim is to get to the next article, but I found myself writing this one first. How it goes. Purdue is the ground zero for what has become the Bayh in Bayh-Dole, so we may as well. Purdue has … Continue reading →

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Being blunt about Bayh-Dole operations

Posted on February 25, 2021 by Gerald Barnett

Let’s be blunt. If you are a federal contractor and you don’t take/accept ownership of an invention arising in federally supported research or development, you have no Bayh-Dole obligations with regard to that invention. You do not have to get … Continue reading →

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What has Bayh-Dole changed?

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Gerald Barnett

There’s a persistent claim made that Bayh-Dole somehow changed university technology transfer–started it, revolutionized it, and/or made it successful where it wasn’t before. Something pretty darned big, anyway. But nowhere in Bayh-Dole is there any hint that nonprofit technology transfer … Continue reading →

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The VPR Letters, No. 4

Posted on January 24, 2021 by Gerald Barnett

Dear Vice Provost for Research, It’s been a while, and I thought I would drop you another note to help you with your management of university-hosted intellectual property. I once was contacted by a vice provost of research at a … Continue reading →

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UW’s Fast Start template, another bad bureaucratic idea gone bad, 7

Posted on December 19, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

We have been working through the arguments for universities implementing one-size-fits-all licensing templates for their spinout companies, so that all spinouts are treated the same–as if university spinouts are all the same, or should be made to become all the … Continue reading →

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UW’s Fast Start template, another bad bureaucratic idea gone bad, 6

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

The University of Washington recently “rolled out” a “FAST start” template license agreement for university spinout companies–companies started by inventive researchers at the university to develop their inventions as commercial products. For spinout companies, the UW’s practice is to demand … Continue reading →

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UW’s Fast Start template, another bad bureaucratic idea gone bad, 5

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

We have been discussing GeekWire’s account of the UW FAST start one-size-fits-all template agreement for startups. We showed that UW’s figures for startups were incorrect and there was little need for such a template. We then turned to H. Holden … Continue reading →

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UW’s Fast Start template, another bad bureaucratic idea gone bad, 4

Posted on December 17, 2020 by Gerald Barnett

H. Holden Thorp, editor in chief at Science magazine and formerly chancellor at Washington University and before that the University of North Carolina, published an editorial in Science, “An opportunity to improve innovation” that provides insight on the UW FAST … Continue reading →

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