Later this week, I'm having a meeting regarding possible commercialization of my research. There's a separate "Entrepreneur" study at this university, and the Department Head has identified me as someone with potentially marketable research ideas. Thus, I'm having a meeting with some MSc students whose main project will emanate in some form of patent application (or so I gather from the information available to me at the moment) - in collaboration with the technology transfer office and the innovator, of course. At this stage, they're screening for some marketable ideas they can take to the next level of selection.
On one hand, this is potentially way cool. However, and hopefully without coming off as too much of a curmudgeon, I've had some experience with commercialization, and even before going into the quagmire of legalese, there are many substantial hurdles to overcome. Of course, this is all hypothetical since I haven't actually had the meeting yet, but commercialization doesn't promise quite the same silver lining for academics as it does for industry researchers. Unless a start-up company emerges from this technology - and the statistics are telling me that this is unlikely - there are few incentives on the horizon, despite commercialization being one of the fast-rising desired measurables in academia, along with "popularization" of science. The percentage I'd get from any future profits doesn't exactly motivate me - I don't remember the exact percentage my share would amount to, but after several branches of the university has taken their cut, I might be able to put down the first installment on a pair of laser goggles if I come up with a cure for AIDS, for example. Add to that all the limitations in publishing your results which comes with such a process, and you end up with what can be conservatively estimated as a gamble for a fresh-off-the-boat academic in a publish-or-perish cutthroat world.
I'm not gonna try to get into MBA classes just yet. Nor am I gonna legally change my name to Rockefeller Q. Gates.
On one hand, this is potentially way cool. However, and hopefully without coming off as too much of a curmudgeon, I've had some experience with commercialization, and even before going into the quagmire of legalese, there are many substantial hurdles to overcome. Of course, this is all hypothetical since I haven't actually had the meeting yet, but commercialization doesn't promise quite the same silver lining for academics as it does for industry researchers. Unless a start-up company emerges from this technology - and the statistics are telling me that this is unlikely - there are few incentives on the horizon, despite commercialization being one of the fast-rising desired measurables in academia, along with "popularization" of science. The percentage I'd get from any future profits doesn't exactly motivate me - I don't remember the exact percentage my share would amount to, but after several branches of the university has taken their cut, I might be able to put down the first installment on a pair of laser goggles if I come up with a cure for AIDS, for example. Add to that all the limitations in publishing your results which comes with such a process, and you end up with what can be conservatively estimated as a gamble for a fresh-off-the-boat academic in a publish-or-perish cutthroat world.
I'm not gonna try to get into MBA classes just yet. Nor am I gonna legally change my name to Rockefeller Q. Gates.
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4 comments:
Well, commercialization do have a habit of interfering with world domination schemes. So it may not be your cup of tea.
:-D
...I could tell that it was mine
from the oil and the gasoline...
World domination schemes appear to have fallen out of vogue lately, haven't they?
Schematics for my secret lair to be constructed in a volcano are already piling up in my office.
Schematics for my secret lair to be constructed in a volcano are already piling up in my office.
So that's where your secret lair is. I thought you called your lair "library" and that you recently finished constructing it...
;-)
"Begin the unnecessarily slow-moving dipping mechanism!"
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