National Academies Press: OpenBook

Overcoming Barriers to Collaborative Research: Report of a Workshop (1999)

Chapter: Appendix C. University-Industry Collaborations Discussed at the Workshop

« Previous: Appendix B. Teri Willey Presentation
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C. University-Industry Collaborations Discussed at the Workshop." National Research Council. 1999. Overcoming Barriers to Collaborative Research: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9722.
×

Appendix C
University-Industry Collaborations Discussed at the Workshop

Partnership/Program

Type of Collaboration

Key Points

Amgen's collaboration with Sloan-Kettering, Max-Planck Institute, MIT, and other academic institutions

Ranges from sponsored research and student support to faculty consulting and focused collaboration on clinical trials.

• Valuing contributions is an issue: universities are trying to capture greater value but may be unrealistic.

• On some issues (delay of publication) there are standard practices that work; sometimes companies ask for more time to patent than they really need.

• Other issues include preventing conflicts of interest (in clinical trials) and restrictions placed on institutions by some non-profit sponsors.

Carnegie Mellon University's collaboration with industry, including the Data Storage Systems Center, collaboration with Caterpillar, and university-based start-ups

Includes an Engineering Research Center, master agreements, and start-ups in which the university owns equity.

• More inexperienced foreign-based companies are entering collaborations.

• More master agreements are required, with more difficult and complex negotiations.

• The management structure for master agreements is important.

• Complex interactions must be coordinated among university-managed incubators, tech transfer to start-ups, university equity ownership, and faculty entrepreneurs.

• Insights from collaboration do make it into the curriculum, often more quickly than people realize.

Biotechnology Research and Development Center (national consortium)

For-profit corporation with equity ownership by industry members. Commercializes Department of Agriculture-sponsored research

• Focus has gradually moved from discovery research to demonstration of feasibility on campus.

• Will give universities greater equity if they reduce indirect rates.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C. University-Industry Collaborations Discussed at the Workshop." National Research Council. 1999. Overcoming Barriers to Collaborative Research: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9722.
×

Partnership/Program

Type of Collaboration

Key Points

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Incubator Program

University owns three buildings housing a number of start-ups, some coming out of the university, some spun off from larger companies.

• One of the oldest university-run incubators; high survival rate but no huge successes yet.

• Networking and collaboration are essential; alumni are potential "angel" investors.

• Emerging trend is to link university endowment or public venture capital firms with the incubator.

Optoelectronics Computing Systems Center

Engineering Research Center (ERC).

• ERC program was intended to create a new kind of student. This is happening, but more needs to be done to move insights into the curriculum.

• Some companies have caused management problems by pulling out funding at short notice or funding at lower than critical mass and demanding background rights.

• A general issue is that ERCs and Science and Technology Centers may promise more than can be delivered and become disconnected from the university. There are examples where the center played a positive role in breaking down disciplinary and other barriers on campus.

• This ERC has launched a number of start-up companies, helping to create a regional technology focus.

University of Utah, various collaborative projects

Start-ups generated by university research, sponsored research.

• Rules are needed to protect the institution, faculty, and students.

• In one case a company sponsors research by a faculty member who holds equity in the company. The university holds equity as well and has a broad licensing agreement. This sort of relationship can be difficult to manage.

• Can negotiate non-disclosure for longer than 60–90 days if no students are involved and non-tenured faculty members sign an agreement that they understand.

• Some private foundations are now imposing onerous intellectual property right provisions.

• Indirect costs simply cannot be negotiated away. Need to pay them somehow. Sometimes it is a matter of saying no to faculty members who insist that waiving them is needed to gain industry support.

• Demand for reach-through rights to inventions developed through use of university research materials can be a problem. The university wants the package to be of maximum use, but difficulties arise when industry wants a royalty-free license to the work of many individuals.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C. University-Industry Collaborations Discussed at the Workshop." National Research Council. 1999. Overcoming Barriers to Collaborative Research: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9722.
×

Partnership/Program

Type of Collaboration

Key Points

Real-Time Innovations

Start-up based on software developed at Stanford; used in robotics, space shuttle. Currently Stanford is a Real-Time Innovations subcontractor on an Advanced Technology Program contract.

• Company provides a platform for Stanford-developed tools to become more widely used.

• Patents on software do not generate much revenue; value is mainly defensive.

• Success based on long-term relationships, trust, understanding.

National Textile Center/University Research Consortium

Government-supported industry consortium that funds university research.

• Has brought together companies representing the entire value chain: Dow Chemical through Wal-Mart.

• Centered on a highly competitive global industry that does not receive much federal support.

• Encourages universities to focus on industry problems.

Akzo Corporate Research, collaborations with academia

Various forms of collaboration, including a project to remove toxic chromium from products involving Akzo, NASA labs, Drexel University, Polytechnic University, and Ohio State University.

• Chemical industry is focusing internal research on definite product goals; speculative work is done only in partnerships.

• Key factors are trust, good intellectual property provisions, and sufficient funding.

• University productivity goes down in proportion to time spent preparing the next proposal. Universities need a consistent liaison in the company.

• Funding must be committed for three years—the length of a dissertation.

• Companies see the benefit in attracting graduates as employees.

• Companies will go to overseas universities when conditions are favorable.

ARCH Development Corporation

Non-profit subsidiary of the University of Chicago aimed at commercializing inventions from the university and Argonne National Laboratory.

• To date, 20 companies have been launched. Income rising gradually with occasional spikes. Now self-supporting.

• Finding CEOs for the start-ups is an issue.

• Should tech transfer be handled in-house, by a non-profit subsidiary, or by a for-profit contractor? Some functions may need to be managed close to home.

Walt Disney Imagineering

Hiring students, engaging in some sponsored research.

• Interdisciplinary skill sets are increasingly important to the entertainment industry (e.g., computers and art).

• Better to walk away from a negotiation immediately rather than waste time when the chemistry is not right or trust is lacking.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C. University-Industry Collaborations Discussed at the Workshop." National Research Council. 1999. Overcoming Barriers to Collaborative Research: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9722.
×
Page 41
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C. University-Industry Collaborations Discussed at the Workshop." National Research Council. 1999. Overcoming Barriers to Collaborative Research: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9722.
×
Page 42
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C. University-Industry Collaborations Discussed at the Workshop." National Research Council. 1999. Overcoming Barriers to Collaborative Research: Report of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9722.
×
Page 43
Next: Appendix D. Workshop Agenda »
Overcoming Barriers to Collaborative Research: Report of a Workshop Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $29.00 Buy Ebook | $23.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

This report summarizes discussions and insights from the workshop on Overcoming Barriers to Collaborative Research held March 23-24, 1998, in Irvine, California. The workshop was organized by the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss barriers to university-industry cooperation and to explore concrete approaches to overcoming them. Practitioners from universities and industry, as well as government policy makers, participated in the two-day workshop.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!