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U.S. Corporate R&D Crisis Can be Solved if Universities Relinquish IP Rights
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source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/11/prweb570654.htm
U.S. Corporate R&D Crisis Can be Solved if Universities Relinquish IP Rights
RIT president calls on higher education to carry out low-cost research and development.
A New Relationship Between Business and Academia
(Vocus/PRWEB ) November 19, 2007 -- Universities should relinquish intellectual property rights associated with sponsored research for corporations in order to put the U.S. back on the fast track with research and development, says Bill Destler, president of Rochester Institute of Technology.
Destler examines the issue in a new essay titled “A New Relationship Between Business and Academia.” Destler says America’s leadership in new product and service development is in jeopardy. “Our corporate competitors overseas have increased their research and development efforts to the point where many are now superior in quality and productivity to our own.”
But Destler says American graduate students are still the most cost-effective R&D labor force anywhere. He says many colleges and universities have laboratory assets that would be prohibitively expensive for most companies to reproduce.
Destler believes universities should make faculty and staff, graduate and undergraduate students, and facilities available to companies “to carry out corporate research and development projects at low cost and without the usual intellectual property fights that usually derail such efforts.”
Destler says universities could agree to accept a modest up-front payment in return for relinquishing all intellectual property rights associated with the work to the sponsoring company.
“Imagine a new relationship between business and academia in which hundreds of companies discover that they can once again afford to do new product research and development, while identifying future employees at the same time,” Destler continues.
Destler says both academia and the corporate sector are to blame for the U.S. being “inept” in ways “to exploit this obvious ‘unfair advantage’ over foreign competitors … It is time for U.S. colleges and universities to remember that they are tax-exempt, non-profit organizations whose primary role is to serve society, not to make money.”
A new work arrangement to re-energize America’s corporate research and development programs needs to be urgent, Destler says. “Our future economic prosperity may well depend on our success in exploiting one of our last competitive advantages – America’s institutions of higher education and the extraordinary research and development assets that they represent.”
Destler became RIT’s ninth president on July 1. He was formerly senior vice president for academic affairs and provost of the University of Maryland at College Park.
NOTE: To view Destler’s entire essay, “A New Relationship Between Business and Academia,” visit his Web site at: www.rit.edu/president, and go to the “papers and speeches” tab. You may also contact Bob Finnerty at bob.finnerty @ rit.edu, or call (585) 475-4733.
A New Relationship Between Business and Academia
Bill Destler, President
Rochester Institute of Technology
America’s leadership in new product and service development is in jeopardy. Competitive
cost cutting has forced the elimination of all but the shortest-term research and development
programs in the private sector, and our corporate laboratories have all but vanished. RCA Labs,
for example, no longer exists, and Bell Labs is a shadow of its former self. Our corporate
competitors overseas have increased their research and development efforts to the point where
many are now superior in quality and productivity to our own.
Do we have any national assets that we could bring to bear on this problem? Our
institutions of higher education in the U.S. are still without question the finest in the world, and
they possess a reservoir of intellectual talent and creativity unmatched anywhere else. American
graduate students are still the most cost-effective R&D labor force anywhere. In addition, many
colleges and universities have laboratory assets that would be prohibitively expensive for most
companies to reproduce.
So why haven’t U.S. corporations adopted colleges and universities as corporate R&D
centers? Why aren’t more technology-based companies incubating their new product concepts at
universities? How could the U.S. be so inept that we can’t find a way to exploit this obvious
“unfair advantage” over foreign competitors?
Both academia and the corporate sector are to blame. On the academic side, I see several
areas in which a new approach is needed:
1. The “Gatorade factor” – A tiny number of universities have reaped financial windfalls
via intellectual property developed by their faculty. This dream of significant
financial return has led universities to demand intellectual property rights and
subsequent royalty payments from the corporate sector with such vigor that lawyers
terminate many projects before they even begin. It is time for U.S. colleges and
universities to remember that they are tax-exempt, non-profit organizations whose
primary role is to serve society, not to make money.
2. The “give us the money and we’ll work on something related to your interest” factor
– university faculty are usually looking for support for their own ideas, not those of
others, and that causes many corporate executives to wonder what it is they are
funding.
3. The “fund me for three years and I’ll give you a progress report” factor – Academic
timescales are typically much longer than corporations can tolerate, especially when
they are under competitive pressure from abroad.
On the corporate side, there are also a few negative factors at work:
1. The “next quarter’s bottom line” factor – it’s amazing to me to still hear people
question Toyota’s multi-year, billion dollar commitment to hybrid vehicle
development, a commitment U.S. auto companies were unwilling to make because of
the long lead-time that was necessary before any profits could be realized.
2. The “we’ll buy any new technology we need” factor – corporate acquisitions and
mergers are consuming untold billions in legal costs without adding any really new
intellectual assets to the U.S. inventory. These funds could be used to fund
technology R&D.
3. The “we won’t pay overhead” factor – many companies who have internal overhead
rates of over 100 percent on internal corporate R&D projects refuse to acknowledge
the very real costs that universities must bear to support research and development
projects and balk at paying overhead rates at academic institutions that are typically
50 percent or less.
So we’re both to blame. How do we exploit our unfair advantage and make the U.S. once
again the pre-eminent center of research and innovation that results in the best ideas for new
products and services?
Imagine a group of colleges and universities that decide to make faculty and staff,
graduate and undergraduate students, and facilities available to companies to carry out corporate
research and development projects at low cost and without the usual intellectual property fights
that usually derail such efforts. Imagine a new relationship between business and academia in
which hundreds of companies discover that they can once again afford to do new product
research and development, while identifying future employees at the same time. Suppose that the
participating colleges and universities agree to accept a modest up-front payment, to be shared
by the students, faculty, and the institution, in return for relinquishing all IP rights associated
with the work to the sponsoring company.
Can this kind of arrangement work to re-energize our corporate R&D programs? I
believe that the answer is yes. Let’s get on with it. Our future economic prosperity may well
depend on our success in exploiting one of our last competitive advantages – America’s
institutions of higher education and the extraordinary research and development assets that they
represent.
U.S. Corporate R&D Crisis Can be Solved if Universities Relinquish IP Rights
RIT president calls on higher education to carry out low-cost research and development.
A New Relationship Between Business and Academia
(Vocus/PRWEB ) November 19, 2007 -- Universities should relinquish intellectual property rights associated with sponsored research for corporations in order to put the U.S. back on the fast track with research and development, says Bill Destler, president of Rochester Institute of Technology.
Destler examines the issue in a new essay titled “A New Relationship Between Business and Academia.” Destler says America’s leadership in new product and service development is in jeopardy. “Our corporate competitors overseas have increased their research and development efforts to the point where many are now superior in quality and productivity to our own.”
But Destler says American graduate students are still the most cost-effective R&D labor force anywhere. He says many colleges and universities have laboratory assets that would be prohibitively expensive for most companies to reproduce.
Destler believes universities should make faculty and staff, graduate and undergraduate students, and facilities available to companies “to carry out corporate research and development projects at low cost and without the usual intellectual property fights that usually derail such efforts.”
Destler says universities could agree to accept a modest up-front payment in return for relinquishing all intellectual property rights associated with the work to the sponsoring company.
“Imagine a new relationship between business and academia in which hundreds of companies discover that they can once again afford to do new product research and development, while identifying future employees at the same time,” Destler continues.
Destler says both academia and the corporate sector are to blame for the U.S. being “inept” in ways “to exploit this obvious ‘unfair advantage’ over foreign competitors … It is time for U.S. colleges and universities to remember that they are tax-exempt, non-profit organizations whose primary role is to serve society, not to make money.”
A new work arrangement to re-energize America’s corporate research and development programs needs to be urgent, Destler says. “Our future economic prosperity may well depend on our success in exploiting one of our last competitive advantages – America’s institutions of higher education and the extraordinary research and development assets that they represent.”
Destler became RIT’s ninth president on July 1. He was formerly senior vice president for academic affairs and provost of the University of Maryland at College Park.
NOTE: To view Destler’s entire essay, “A New Relationship Between Business and Academia,” visit his Web site at: www.rit.edu/president, and go to the “papers and speeches” tab. You may also contact Bob Finnerty at bob.finnerty @ rit.edu, or call (585) 475-4733.
A New Relationship Between Business and Academia
Bill Destler, President
Rochester Institute of Technology
America’s leadership in new product and service development is in jeopardy. Competitive
cost cutting has forced the elimination of all but the shortest-term research and development
programs in the private sector, and our corporate laboratories have all but vanished. RCA Labs,
for example, no longer exists, and Bell Labs is a shadow of its former self. Our corporate
competitors overseas have increased their research and development efforts to the point where
many are now superior in quality and productivity to our own.
Do we have any national assets that we could bring to bear on this problem? Our
institutions of higher education in the U.S. are still without question the finest in the world, and
they possess a reservoir of intellectual talent and creativity unmatched anywhere else. American
graduate students are still the most cost-effective R&D labor force anywhere. In addition, many
colleges and universities have laboratory assets that would be prohibitively expensive for most
companies to reproduce.
So why haven’t U.S. corporations adopted colleges and universities as corporate R&D
centers? Why aren’t more technology-based companies incubating their new product concepts at
universities? How could the U.S. be so inept that we can’t find a way to exploit this obvious
“unfair advantage” over foreign competitors?
Both academia and the corporate sector are to blame. On the academic side, I see several
areas in which a new approach is needed:
1. The “Gatorade factor” – A tiny number of universities have reaped financial windfalls
via intellectual property developed by their faculty. This dream of significant
financial return has led universities to demand intellectual property rights and
subsequent royalty payments from the corporate sector with such vigor that lawyers
terminate many projects before they even begin. It is time for U.S. colleges and
universities to remember that they are tax-exempt, non-profit organizations whose
primary role is to serve society, not to make money.
2. The “give us the money and we’ll work on something related to your interest” factor
– university faculty are usually looking for support for their own ideas, not those of
others, and that causes many corporate executives to wonder what it is they are
funding.
3. The “fund me for three years and I’ll give you a progress report” factor – Academic
timescales are typically much longer than corporations can tolerate, especially when
they are under competitive pressure from abroad.
On the corporate side, there are also a few negative factors at work:
1. The “next quarter’s bottom line” factor – it’s amazing to me to still hear people
question Toyota’s multi-year, billion dollar commitment to hybrid vehicle
development, a commitment U.S. auto companies were unwilling to make because of
the long lead-time that was necessary before any profits could be realized.
2. The “we’ll buy any new technology we need” factor – corporate acquisitions and
mergers are consuming untold billions in legal costs without adding any really new
intellectual assets to the U.S. inventory. These funds could be used to fund
technology R&D.
3. The “we won’t pay overhead” factor – many companies who have internal overhead
rates of over 100 percent on internal corporate R&D projects refuse to acknowledge
the very real costs that universities must bear to support research and development
projects and balk at paying overhead rates at academic institutions that are typically
50 percent or less.
So we’re both to blame. How do we exploit our unfair advantage and make the U.S. once
again the pre-eminent center of research and innovation that results in the best ideas for new
products and services?
Imagine a group of colleges and universities that decide to make faculty and staff,
graduate and undergraduate students, and facilities available to companies to carry out corporate
research and development projects at low cost and without the usual intellectual property fights
that usually derail such efforts. Imagine a new relationship between business and academia in
which hundreds of companies discover that they can once again afford to do new product
research and development, while identifying future employees at the same time. Suppose that the
participating colleges and universities agree to accept a modest up-front payment, to be shared
by the students, faculty, and the institution, in return for relinquishing all IP rights associated
with the work to the sponsoring company.
Can this kind of arrangement work to re-energize our corporate R&D programs? I
believe that the answer is yes. Let’s get on with it. Our future economic prosperity may well
depend on our success in exploiting one of our last competitive advantages – America’s
institutions of higher education and the extraordinary research and development assets that they
represent.
