Here’s an interesting piece by Carl Schramm, who is the president and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. He posits a slow decline in American research universities so that “it may be unwise, therefore, for regions to rely on universities as primary engines of growth and innovation. But local governments might pursue a strategy of urging universities to pool their commercialization efforts.”
The reason for the decline?
Money quote:
The likeliest reason for this worrisome trend is that many companies are tired of haggling over intellectual property rights—and in a world of globalized R&D, they no longer have to. IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Baker Hughes, Intel, Texas Instruments, and Microsoft, to name just a few major firms on a growing list, are now shifting research funding to universities in England, India, Russia, and China, where they have access to top scientists and often face fewer intellectual property hurdles.
Memo to University IP operation: please take note.
Jim
Discoverers and Discoveries 