Category Archives: Policy

Graphene, or 7300 patents waiting for commercialization

Posted on April 22, 2014 by Gerald Barnett

The BBC is running a cluster of stories today on graphene, a material consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms. The UK angle is that graphene was invented in Britain, but Chinese and American organizations have flooded the area … Continue reading →

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Building Pillar One: Freedom To Innovate

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Gerald Barnett

Of the seven pillars of university new innovation practice, freedom to innovate is the most important. University policies on research and invention were at one time liberal. That is, faculty and students had the freedom to publish, experiment, discuss, collaborate, … Continue reading →

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The Seven Pillars of New University Innovation Practice

Posted on March 14, 2014 by Gerald Barnett

Here are the Seven Pillars of the New University Innovation Practice.  Freedom to innovate is not new–it is the form of practice that university faculty developed over the course of 75 years, and was the source of “successes” that were … Continue reading →

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The Paradise of University Rhetoric About Science and Innovation

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Gerald Barnett

Ian Sample, writing for The Guardian’s ShortcutsBlog, describes how MIT grad students in 2005 created a “fake science report” generator that produced bogus scientific articles for presentation at conferences. Now anyone can download the generator: But this is the hoax … Continue reading →

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More Bayh-Dole Nonsense

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Gerald Barnett

In the “Innovation U 2.0” report, we find the now expectable misrepresentation of the Bayh-Dole Act: Following the passage of the Bayh-Dole legislation in 1980 every US university had the responsibility–and new opportunities–to work with faculty innovators in assessing the … Continue reading →

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Ouroboros Innovation Advocacy

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Gerald Barnett

SSTI just sent out a note about a new report by Louis G. Tornatzky and Elaine C. Redeout, “Innovation U 2.0 Reinventing University Roles in a Knowledge Economy.” After a brief read through it, I’m left puzzled. Perhaps this note … Continue reading →

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Be Advocates for the Doers

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Gerald Barnett

Universities prior to Bayh-Dole generally pushed invention management to external agents. These agents took on the expense, the complexity, the competitive issues, and the liability. These agents allowed universities to avoid direct conflicts of interest between managing the research environment … Continue reading →

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The secret student "investment" in technology transfer

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Gerald Barnett

About a month ago, I wrote a couple of essays on the Brookings report “University Start-ups: Critical for Improving Technology Transfer.” The Brookings report thinks that university administrators starting and investing in companies is a really keen idea, especially if … Continue reading →

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Another Thing That Can Go Wrong With HR 3309

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Gerald Barnett

Are you tracking the anti-troll legislation making its way through Congress? Chris Gallagher has been doing that, and some of you are no doubt on his mailing list with updates. If you are an administrator at a university, and you … Continue reading →

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Ten Reasons Why Deans and Provosts Should Support Freedom to Innovate

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Gerald Barnett

Freedom to innovate policies limit the manner in which universities and other non-profit organizations claim ownership of intellectual property developed in the research and instructional programs they host. These limitations, far from being adverse to institutional interests, promote a creative, … Continue reading →

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